BX  9815  .P36  1885 

Parker,  Theodore,  1810-1860 

Views  of  religion 


VIEWS    OF    RELIGION. 


^>^^  ur  ruif/c] 


4 


VIEWS    OF    RELIGION. 


BY 

V 

THEODORE   PARKER. 


SEitij  an  Entrotiuction, 
By  JAMES   FREEMAN  CLARKE. 


BOSTON: 

AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION. 

1885. 


Copyright,  1885, 
By  F.  B.   Sanborn. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction v 

The  Religious  Element  in  Man.  (From  "  A  Discourse 
of  Matters  pertaining  to  Religion."  Book  I.,  Chapters  I. 
II.  III.  and  IV.) 1 

Naturalism,    Supernaturalism,    and     Spiritualism. 
(From  "A  Discourse  of  Matters  pertaining  to  Religion." 
Book  I.,  Chapters  VI.  VII.  and  VIII.) 29 

Speculative  Atheism,  regarded  as  a  Theory  op  the 
Universe.  (From  "Theism,  Atheism,  and  the  Popular 
Theology."     Sermon  I.) 58 

Speculative  Theism,  regarded  as  a  Theory  op  the 
Universe.  (From  "  Theism,  Atheism,  and  the  Popular 
Theology."     Sermon  V.) 85 

A  Sermon   of   Providence.     (From   "  Theism,  Atheism, 

and  the  Popular  Theology."     Sermon  VIII.)    ....     112 

Of  Justice  and  the  Conscience.  (From  "Ten  Sermons 
of  Religion,  and  Prayers."     Sermon  III.) 138 

Of  the  Culture  of    the  Religious   Powers.     (From 

"  Ten  Sermons  of  Religion,  and  Prayers."     Sermon  VI.)     164 

Of  Piety,  and  the  Relation  thereof  to  Manly  Life. 
(From  "  Ten  Sermons  of  Religion,  and  Prayers."  Ser- 
mon I.) 194 

Conscious  Religion  as  a  Source  of  Strength.  (From 
"  Ten  Sermons  of  Religion,  and  Prayers."  Extracts  from 
Sermon  VII.) 216 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Of  Communion  with  God.  (From  "  Ten  Sermons  of  Re- 
ligion, and  Prayei's."     Extracts  from  Sermon  X.)    .     .       236 

The  Relation  of  Jesus  to  his  Age  and  the  Ages. 
(From  "Discourses  of  Theology."  A  Sermon  preached 
at  the  Thursday  Lecture,  in  Boston,  December  26,  1844.)     256 

Thoughts  about  Jesus.  (From  "  Lessons  from  the  World 
of  Matter  and  the  World  of  Man."  Extracts  from  chap- 
ter entitled  "Jesus  of  Nazareth.")    273 

A  Discourse  of  the  Transient  and  Permanent  in 
Christianity.  (From  "Miscellaneous  Discourses." 
Sermon  I.  Preached  at  the  Ordination  of  Mr.  Ciiarles 
C.  Shackford,  in  the  Hawes  Place  Church,  in  Boston, 
May  19,  1841.) 289 

The  Bible.     (From  "  A  Discourse  of  Matters  pertaining  to 

Religion."     Book  IV.,  Chapters  L  IV.  and  V.)  .     ...     326 

A  Sermon  on  Immortal  Life.  (From  "Discourses  of 
Theology."  Preached  at  the  Melodeon,  Boston,  on  Sun- 
day, September  20,  1846.) 343 

An  Humble  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  William  Ellery 
Channing,  D.  D.  (A  Sermon  preached  at  West  Eoxbury, 
October  9,  1842,  and  printed  at  the  time,  by  request,  in 
pamphlet  form.) 369 

Beauty  in  the  World  of  Matter.     (From  "  Discourses 

of  Theology.") 397 

Spring.     (From  "  Lessons  from  the  World  of  Matter  and 

the  World  of  Man.") 419 

Prayer.    (From  "  Ten  Sermons  of  Religion,  and  Prayers.")     434 


INDEX 439 


INTRODUCTION. 


There  is  no  complete  Amerioan  edition  of  the  works  of 
Theodore  Parker,  and  many  of  them  are  ont  of  print. 
■  The  American  Unitarian  Association  publishes  this  vol- 
ume of  selections  from  his  writings  by  permission  of  his 
friends.  We  hope  that  his  entire  works  may  one  day  be 
collected  and  published  in  this  country,  as  they  have  been 
in  England. 

All  of  these  writings,  unless  we  except  his  translation  of 
De  Wette  on  the  Old  Testament,  consist  of  occasional  ser- 
mons, speeches,  lectures,  and  essays  in  periodical  works. 
■In  the  pressure  of  such  immediate  demands,  this  most 
laborious  of  men  never  found  time  to  compose  an  elaborate 
work.  Always  hoping  to  do  so,  and  amply  j)repared  with 
stores  of  thought  and  learning,  the  hour  never  came.  In 
this,  he  resembled  other  eminent  Americans,  such  as  William 
Ellery  Channing,  Daniel  Webster,  Charles  Sumner,  Wendell 
Phillips,  and  Edward  Everett.  There  is  both  advantage 
and  disadvantage  in  thus  spending  one's  strength  on  special 
occasions.  There  is  greater  immediate  impression,  but  less 
permanent  influence.  Few  care  to  read  a  volume  of  speeches 
delivered  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  about  matters  which 
have  lost  their  interest.  The  fame  which  comes  from  pop- 
ular addresses,  like  that  of  a  great  actor,  is  remembered  at 
last  as  a  tradition ;  while,  moreover,  the  style  of  such  ad- 
dresses tends  to  diffuseness,  repetition,  and  the  broad  touches 
which  jjlease  an  audience. 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

From  this  tendency  to  oblivion  Parker's  writings  are 
relatively  saved  by  their  learning  and  philosophy,  and  also 
because  he  made  himself  an  integral  part  of  two  movements 
which  have  gone  into  history,  —  the  antislavery  movement 
in  politics,  and  the  broadening  out  of  New  England  theology. 
The  plan  of  this  volume,  as  intended  by  the  Publishing 
Committee,  was  simply  to  illustrate  Mr.  Parker's  views  of 
religion  and  theology.  A  more  comprehensive  selection 
would,  of  course,  include  examples  of  his  method  of  treat- 
ing public  subjects,  and  show  his  interest  in  moral  reforms 
and  the  practical  questions  of  the  hour. 

Theodore  Parker,  an  ardent  controversialist,  and  vehement  '■ 
in  expression,  was  sometimes  unfair  to  his  opponents.     But 
he  was  never  intentionally  so.     He  had  the  magnanimity  • 
which  enabled  him  readily  to  retract  any  statement  which 
he  saw  was  unfounded,  or  which  could  be  misunderstood. 
He  did  so  in  one  instance  at  my  suggestion,  because  I  told  • 
him  that  one  of  his  expressions  had  been  misunderstood  by 
good  people.   His  tremendous  philippics  against  the  defend- 
ers of  slavery,  and  against  those  who  were  willing  to  return 
fugitives  to  their  owners,  though  very  severe,  were  caused 
by  his  profound  sense  of  the  iniquity  of  the  system. 

The  theology  of  Theodore  Parker  was  at  first  thought  ' 
to  be  very  radical,  and  was  much  censured.     He  returned 
the   condemnation  in  full  measure,  using  sometimes  very 
bitter  language.     But  with  all  this  acrid  speech,  his  dis-  • 
position   was    kind    and    affectionate.      He   never    forgot  • 
a    friendly    action,   for    his    heart    was    as    large    as    his 
brain. 

Time  and  death  soften  animosities.    The  Unitarians  have  •• 
forgiven  and  forgotten  his  sharp  speeches  against  them,  and 
— what  is  often  harder  to  forgive — their  own  sharp  speeches 
against  him.      To-day,  they  only  remember  his  loyalty  to  ■ 
truth,  his  devotion  to  humanity,  his  scholarship,  intelligence, 
and  loving  heart.     Few   persons  would   subscribe   to   his  ■ 


INTROD  UC  TION.  VU 

•  theology.  To  many  he  still  seems  only  partially  to  under- 
stand the  work  of  Jesus,  and  to  ignore  some  of  the  deeper 
experiences  of  the  human  soul.     On  the  other  hand,  the 

•  current  of  what  is  called  ''  advanced  thought "  has  carried 
others  far  beyond  his  position.  If  he  were  living  now,  he 
would  be  thought  by  many  to  be  much  too  conservative. 

The  work  of  Theodore  Parker  in  theology  was  not  essen- 
tially that  of  denial.     He  pulled  doAvn  in  order  to  build. 
■  He  believed,  with  all  his  mind,  heart,  soul,  and  strength, 
in  God,  Duty,  and  Immortality.      He  could  never  accept 
in  place  of  the  living  God  any  "  stream  of  tendency,"  or 

•  "  power  not  ourselves  making  for  righteousness."  To  him 
God  was  personal  Friend,  universal  Father,  whose  worship 
filled  his  mind  and  heart.  An  impersonal  God  was  to  him 
a  contradiction  in  terms. 

He  was,  in  the  profoundest  depths  of  his  belief,  a  tran- 

•  scendentalist.  He  never  could  suppose  the  idea  of  duty 
to  be  only  a  transformed  sensation.  To  him  it  spoke  with 
commanding  voice  as  an  innate  idea,  binding  the  soul  to 
the  law  of  universal  righteousness. 

Nor  could  he  accept  the  sad  doctrine  that  all  of  man  ends 

•  with  the  present  life.  He  saw  in  this  life  the  beginning 
of  perpetual  development.  He  deemed  this  faith  in  im- 
mortality essential  as  a  motive  to  endeavor,  as  a  spring 
of  progress,  and  as  vital  to  a  true  view  of  the  dignity  of 
man. 

The  biography  of  Parker  has  been  frequently  written. 

The   first    and    fullest,   but   without    much    arrangement, 

■and  poorly  put  together,  is  that  by  Weiss.     The  best  is 

by  0.  B.  Frothingham.     From   this  last  we   quote   some 

passages : — 

"  With  him  the  religious  sentiment  was  supreme.  It  had  roots 
in  his  being  wholly  distinct  from  its  mental  or  sensible  forms 
of  expression, — completely  distinguished  from   theology,  which 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

claimed  to  give  an  account  of  it  in  words;  and  from  ceremonies, 
•wliich  claimed  to  embody  it  in  rites  and  symbols.  Never  evapo- 
rating in  mystical  dreams,  nor  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  cunning 
speculation,  it  preserved  its  freshness  and  bloom  and  fragrance  in 
every  passage  ot  his  life.  His  sense  of  the  reality  of  divine  things 
was  as  strong  as  was  ever  felt  by  a  man  of  such  clear  intelligence. 
His  feeling  for  divine  things  never  lost  its  glow ;  never  was  damped 
by  misgiving,  dimmed  by  doubt,  or  clouded  by  sorrow.  The  in- 
tensity of  his  faith  in  Providence,  and  of  his  assurance  of  personal 
immortality,  seems  almost  fanatical  to  modern  men  who  sympa- 
thize in  general  with  his  philosophy.  His  confidence  in  the  latter 
faith  particularly,  not  all  theists  share.  Yet  to  him  it  was  native, 
instinctive  (in  a  sense  of  spontaneous  and  irresistible),  born  of 
reverence,  aspiration,  trust,  affection,  which  were  ineradicable 
qualities  of  his  being.  So  far  from  dreading  to  submit  his  faith 
to  tests,  he  courted  tests ;  was  as  eager  to  hear  the  arguments 
against  his  belief  as  for  it;  was  as  fair  in  weighing  evidence  on 
his  opponent's  side  as  on  his  own.  '  Oh  that  mine  adversary  had 
written  a  book ! '  he  was  ready  to  cry,  not  that  he  might  demolish 
it,  but  that  he  might  read  it.  He  knew  the  writings  of  Moleschott, 
and  talked  with  him  personally.  The  books  of  Carl  Vogt  were  not 
strange  to  him.  The  philosophy  of  Ludwig  Biichner,  if  philosophy 
it  can  be  called,  was  as  familiar  to  him  as  to  any  of  Buchner's 
disciples.  He  was  intimate  with  the  thoughts  of  Feuerbach.  He 
drew  into  discussion  every  atheist  and  materialist  he  met  ;  talked 
with  them  closely,  confidentially ;  and  rose  from  the  interview 
more  confident  in  the  strength  of  his  own  positions  than  ever. 
Darwin's  first  book,  '  On  the  Origin  of  Species,'  which  was 
brought  to  him  in  Rome,  contained  nothing  that  disturbed  him. 
He  thought  it  unsupported  in  many  of  its  facts,  and  hasty  in 
its  generalizations;  but  the  doctrine  itself  was  not  offensive  to 
him.  Science  he  counted  his  best  friend  ;  relied  on  it  for  con- 
firmation of  his  faith ;  and  was  only  impatient  because  it  moved 
no.  faster.  All  the  materialists  in  and  out  of  Christendom  had 
no  power  to  shake  his  conviction  of  the  infinite  God  and  the 
immortal  existence;  nor  would  have  had,  had  he  lived  till  he 
was  a  century  old :  for,  in  his  view,  the  convictions  were  planted 
deep  in  human  nature,  and  were  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of 
human  life." 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

In  publishing  this  volume  of  selections  from  the  writings 
of  Theodore  Parker,  the  Directors  of  the  American  Unita- 
rian Association  believe  that  they  are  meeting  a  want. 
Without  professing  to  indorse  or  to  reject  the  views  ex- 
pressed in  this  volume,  they  are  glad  to  assist  in  circulating 
the  ideas  of  one  of  the  most  able,  earnest,  and  devout  men 
of  our  time.  The  editor  laments  that  he  has  been  unable, 
from  the  necessary  restriction  of  space,  to  give  more  nu- 
merous selections,  which  would  have  done  larger  justice  to 
the  author.  He  has  sought  to  present  specimens  of  some 
of,  the  thoughts  and  themes  which  chiefly  occupied  the 
mind  of  this  great  thinker  and  reformer.  His  works,  in 
the  English  edition  already  referred  to,  edited  by  Miss 
Frances  Power  Cobbe,  and  used  in  making  this  book,  are 
contained  in  fourteen  volumes,  besides  many  reviews  and 
separate  publications,  which  have  not  been  collected.  The 
volumes  are :  — 

I.  A  Discourse  of  Matters  Pertaining  to  Religion. 

II.  Ten  Sermons  of  Religion,  and  Prayers. 

III.  Discourses  of  Theology. 

IV.  Discom'ses  of  Politics. 

V.   Discourses  of  Slavery.     Vol.  1. 
VI.   Discourses  of  Slavery.     Vol.  2. 
VII.    Discourses  of  Social  Scieuce. 
VIII.    Miscellaneous  Discourses. 
IX.   Critical  Writings.     Vol.  1. 
X.    Critical  Writings.     Vol.  2. 
XI.    Theism,  Atheism,  and  the  Popular  Theology. 
XII.   Autobiographical  and  Miscellaneous  Pieces. 
XIII.    Historical  Americans. 
.    XIV.   Lessons    from  the  World  of  Matter  and  the  World 
of  Man. 

I  would  express,  on  behalf  of  the  friends  of  Theodore 
Parker,  their  sense  of  obligation  to  Miss  Cobbe,  for  her 
affectionate  zeal  and  ability  shown  in  making  this  collec- 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

tion.     And  I  may  take  this  opportunity  to  say  how  much  ■ 
the  friends  of  good  morals  owe  her  for  her  constant  advo- 
cacy of  the  highest  principles  of  duty,  and  her  energetic 
support  of  rational  and  spiritual  religion. 

I  have  taken  nothing  from  the  volumes  of  Slavery  or 
of  Politics,  and  little  from  the  discourses  of  Polemical 
Theology.  It  has  seemed  best  to  confine  the  selections  in 
this  volume  to  the  religious  affirmations  of  Theodore 
Parker. 

In  closing,  I  would  gratefully  acknowledge,  in  ray  own 
behalf  and  that  of  the  Association,  the  kindness  of  Mr. 
F.  B.  Sanborn,  literary  executor  of  Theodore  Parker,  for 
permission  to  use,  for  this  book,  any  of  the  material  under 
his  control,  and  also  that  of  Mr.  Eufus  Leighton,  for  simi- 
lar liberty  in  regard  to  the  volumes  edited  by  him. 

I  am  also  indebted  to  Eev.  Joseph  Henry  Alien  for  the 
sermon  on  Dr.  Chanuing,  which  is  not  included  in  any  of 
the  volumes.  The  only  copy  I  could  find  is  in  the  Library 
of  Harvard  University.  I  hesitated  about  inserting  it,  be- 
cause the  author  introduces  it  by  expressing  his  sense  of  its 
imperfection ;  but  it  ought  to  be  preserved  as  his  testimony 
to  the  character  of  one  whom  he  greatly  revered. 

J.  F.  C. 
Boston,  November  1, 1885. 


VIEWS   OF    RELIGION. 


THE   KELIGIOUS   ELEMENT   IN  MAN. 

As  we  look  on  the  world  which  man  has  added  to  that 
which  came  from  the  hand  of  its  Maker,  we  are  struck 
with  the  variety  of  its  objects  and  tlie  contradiction  be- 
tween them.  There  are  institutions  to  prevent  crime ; 
institutions  that  of  necessity  perpetuate  crime.  This  is 
built  on  selfishness, — would  stand  by  the  downfall  of  jus- 
tice and  truth.  Side  by  side  therewith  is  another,  whose 
broad  foundation  is  universal  love,  —  love  for  all  that  are 
of  woman  born.  Thus  we  see  palaces  and  hovels,  jails 
and  asylums  for  the  weak,  arsenals  and  churches,  huddled 
together  in  the  strangest  and  most  intricate  confusion. 
How  shall  we  bring  order  out  of  this  chaos  ;  account  for 
the  existence  of  these  contradictions  ?  It  is  serious  work 
to  decompose  these  phenomena,  so  various  and  conflict- 
ing ;  to  detect  the  one  cause  in  the  many  results.  But 
in  doing  this,  we  find  the  root  of  all  in  man  himself.  In 
him  is  the  same  perplexing  antithesis  which  we  meet  in 
all  his  works.  These  conflicting  things  existed  as  ideas 
in  him  before  they  took  their  present  and  concrete  shape. 
Discordant  causes  have  produced  effects  not  harmonious. 
Out  of  man  these  institutions  have  grown,  —  out  of 
his  passions  or   his   judgment,  his  senses  or  his  soul. 

1 


2  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

Taken  together  tlie\^  are  the  exponent  which  indicates 
the  character  and  degree  of  development  the  race  has 
now  attained  ;  they  are  both  the  result  of  the  past  and 
the  prophecy  of  the  future. 

From  a  survey  of  society  and  an  examination  of  human 
nature  we  come  at  once  to  the  conclusion,  that  for  every 
institution  out  of  man  except  that  of  religion  there  is  a 
cause  within  him,  either  fleeting  or  permanent ;  that  the 
natural  wants  of  the  body  —  the  desire  of  food  and  rai- 
ment, comfort  and  shelter  —  have  organized  themselves, 
and  instituted  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  ;  that 
the  more  delicate  principles  of  our  nature  —  love  of  the 
beautiful, the  true, the  good — have  their  oi'ganization  also; 
that  the  passions  have  their  artillery,  and  all  the  gentler 
emotions  somewhat  external  to  represent  themselves  and 
reflect  their  image.  Thus  the  institution  of  laws,  with 
their  concomitants  the  court-house  and  the  jail,  we  refer 
to  the  moral  sense  of  mankind,  combining  with  the  des- 
potic selfishness  of  the  strong,  whose  might  often  usurps 
the  place  of  justice.  Factories  and  commerce,  railroads 
and  banks,  schools  and  shops,  armies  and  newspapers, 
are  quite  easily  referred  to  something  analogous  in  the 
wants  of  man;  to  a  lasting  principle,  or  a  transient 
desire,  which  has  projected  them  out  of  itself.  Thus  we 
•  see  that  these  institutions  out  of  man  are  but  the  exhibi- 
tions of  what  is  in  him,  and  must  be  referred  either  to 
eternal  principles  or  momentary  passions.  Society  is 
the  work  of  man.  There  is  nothing  in  society  which 
is  not  also  in  him. 

Now  there  is  one  vast  institution  which  extends  more 
widely  than  human  statutes  ;  claims  the  larger  place  in 
human  affairs  ;  takes  a  deeper  hold  on  men  than  the  ter- 
rible pomp  of  war,  the  machinery  of  science,  the  panoply 
of  comfort.     This  is  the  institution  of  religion,  coeval 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  3 

and  coextensive  with  the  human  race.  Whence  comes 
this  ?  Is  there  an  eternal  principle  in  us  all  which  legiti- 
mately and  of  necessity  leads  to  this  ;  or  does  it  come  — 
like  piracy,  war,  the  slave-trade,  and  so  much  other  busi- 
ness of  society  —  from  the  abuse,  misdirection,  and  dis- 
ease of  human  nature  ?  Shall  we  refer  this  vast  institu- 
tion to  a  passing  passion  which  the  advancing  race  will 
outgrow,  or  does  it  come  from  a  principle  in  us  deep 
and  lasting  as  Man  ? 

To  this  question  for  many  ages  two  answers  have  been 
given,  —  one  foolish  and  one  wise.  The  foolish  answer, 
which  may  be  read  in  Lucretius  and  elsewhere,  is  that 
religion  is  not  a  necessity  of  man's  nature,  which  comes 
from  the  action  of  eternal  demands  within  him,  but  is 
the  result  of  spiritual  disease,  so  to  say,  —  the  effect  of 
fear,  of  ignorance,  combining  with  selfishness ;  that 
hypocritical  priests  and  knavish  kings,  practising  on 
the  ignorance,  the  credulity,  the  passions,  and  the  fears 
of  men,  invented  for  their  own  salve  and  got  up  a  re- 
ligion, in  which  they  put  no  belief  and  felt  no  spiritual 
concern.  But  judging  from  a  superficial  view,  it  might 
as  well  be  said  that  food  and  comfort  were  not  necessi- 
ties of  our  nature,  but  only  cunning  devices  of  butchers, 
mechanics,  and  artists,  to  gain  wealth  and  power.  Be- 
sides, it  is  not  given  to  hypocrites  under  the  mitre,  nor 
over  the  throne,  to  lay  hold  on  the  world  and  move  it ; 
honest  conviction  and  living  faith  are  needed  for  that 
work.  To  move  the  world  of  men  firm  footing  is  needed. 
The  hypocrite  deceives  few  but  himself,  as  the  attempts 
at  pious  frauds  in  ancient  and  modern  times  abundantly 
prove. 

The  wise  answer  is,  that  this  institution  of  religion  — 
like  society,  friendship,  and  marriage  —  comes  out  of  a 
principle  deep  and  permanent  in  the  constitution  of  man  ; 


4  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

that  as  humble  and  transient  and  partial  institutions 
come  out  of  humble,  transient,  and  partial  wants,  and  are 
to  be  traced  to  the  senses  and  the  phenomena  of  life,  — 
so  this  sublime,  permanent,  and  universal  institution  came 
out  from  sublime,  permanent,  and  universal  wants,  and 
must  be  referred  to  the  soul,  the  religious  faculty,  and 
so  belongs  among  the  unchanging  realities  of  life.  Look- 
ing even  superficially,  but  with  earnestness,  upon  human 
affairs,  we  are  driven  to  confess  that  there  is  in  us  a 
spiritual  nature,  which  directly  and  legitimately  leads  to 
religion  ;  that  as  man's  body  is  connected  with  the  world 
of  matter,  rooted  in  it,  has  bodily  wants,  bodily  senses 
to  minister  thereto,  and  a  fund  of  external  materials 
wherewith  to  gratify  these  senses  and  appease  these 
wants,  —  so  man's  soul  is  connected  with  the  world  of 
Spirit,  rooted  in  God,  has  spiritual  wants  and  spiritual 
senses,  and  a  fund  of  materials  wherewith  to  gratify 
these  spiritual  senses  and  appease  these  spiritual  wants. 
If  this  be  so,  then  do  not  religious  institutions  come 
equally  from  man  ?  Must  it  not  be  that  there  is  nothing 
in  religion,  more  than  in  society,  which  is  not  implied 
in  him  ? 

Now,  the  existence  of  a  religious  element  in  us  is  not  a 
matter  of  hazardous  and  random  conjecture,  nor  attested 
only  by  a  superficial  glance  at  the  history  of  man  ;  but  this 
principle  is  found  out,  and  its  existence  demonstrated,  in 
several  legitimate  ways. 

■.  We  see  the  phenomena  of  worship  and  religious  ob- 
servances ;  of  religious  wants,  and  actions  to  supply  those 
wants.  Work  implies  a  hand  that  did  and  a  head  that 
planned  it.  A  sound  induction  from  these  facts  carries 
us  back  to  a  religious  principle  in  man,  though  the  in- 
duction does  not  determine  the  nature  of  this  principle, 
except  that  it  is  the  cause  of  these  phenomena.     This 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  5 

common  and  notorious  fact  of  religious  phenomena  being 
found  everywhere,  can  be  explained  only  on  the  supposi- 
tion that  man  is  by  the  necessity  of  his  nature  inclined 
to  religion;  that  worship  in  some  form,  gross  or  refined, 
in  act  or  word  or  thought  or  life,  is  natural  and  quite 
indispensable  to  the  race.  If  the  opposite  view  be  taken, 
that  there  is  no  religious  principle  in  man,  then  there  are 
permanent  and  universal  phenomena  without  a  corre- 
sponding cause ;  and  the  fact  remains  unexplained  and 
unaccountable. 

Again,  we  feel  conscious  of  this  element  within  us. 
We  are  not  sufficient  for  ourselves  ;  not  self-originated, 
not  self-sustained.  A  few  years  ago,  and  we  were  not ; 
a  few  years  hence,  and  our  bodies  shall  not  be.  A  mys- 
tery is  gathered  about  our  little  life.  We  have  but 
small  control  over  things  around  us ;  are  limited  and 
hemmed  in  on  all  sides.  Our  schemes  fail ;  our  plans 
miscarry.  One  after  another  our  lights  go  out ;  our 
realities  prove  dreams  ;  our  hopes  waste  away.  We  are 
not  where  we  would  be,  nor  what  we  would  be.  After 
much  experience,  men  powerful  as  Napoleon,  victorious 
as  Cfesar,  confess  what  simpler  men  knew  by  instinct 
long  before,  —  that  it  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct 
his  steps.  We  find  our  circumference  very  near  the 
centre,  everywhere.  An  exceedingly  short  radius  mea- 
sures all  our  strength.  We  can  know  little  of  material 
things ;  nothing  but  their  phenomena.  As  the  circle  of 
our  knowledge  widens  its  ring,  we  feel  our  ignorance  on 
more  numerous  points,  and  the  unknown  seems  greater 
than  before.  At  the  end  of  a  toilsome  life  we  confess,  with 
a  great  man  of  modern  times,  that  we  have  wandered 
on  the  shore,  and  gathered  here  a  bright  pebble  and 
there  a  shining  shell ;  but  an  ocean  of  truth,  boundless . 
and  unfathomed,  lies  before  us,  and  all  unknown.     The 


•  6  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

.  wisest  ancient  knew  only  this,  —  that  he  knew  nothing. 
.  We  feel  an  irresistible  tendency  to  refer  all  outward 
things,  and  ourselves  with  them,  to  a  power  beyond  us, 
sublime  and  mysterious,  which  we  cannot  measure  nor 
even  comprehend.  We  are  filled  with  reverence  at  the 
thought  of  this  power.  Outward  matters  give  us  the 
occasion  which  awakens  consciousness,  and  spontaneous 
nature  leads  us  to  something  higher  than  ourselves  and 
greater  than  all  the  eyes  behold.  We  are  bowed  down 
at  the  thought.  Thus  the  sentiment  of  something  super- 
human comes  natural  as  breath.  This  primitive  spiritual 
sensation  comes  over  the  soul  wdien  a  sudden  calamity 
throws  us  from  our  habitual  state,  when  joy  fills  our 
cup  to  its  brim,  —  at  "  a  wedding  or  a  funeral,  a  mourn- 
ing or  a  festival ; "  when  we  stand  beside  a  great  work 
of  nature, —  a  mountain,  a  waterfall;  when  the  twilight 
gloom  of  a  primitive  forest  sends  awe  into  the  heart; 
when  we  sit  alone  with  ourselves,  and  turn  in  the  eye 
and  ask.  What  am  I;  whence  came  I;  whither  shall -I 
go  ?  There  is  no  man  who  has  not  felt  this  sensation, 
this  mysterious  sentiment  of  something  unbounded. 

Still  further,  we  arrive  at  the  same  result  from  a  phi- 
losophical analysis  of  man's  nature.  We  set  aside  the 
body  with  its  senses  as  the  man's  house,  having  doors 
and  windows  ;  we  examine  the  understanding,  which  is  his 
handmaid ;  we  separate  the  affections,  which  unite  man 
with  man  ;  we  discover  the  moral  sense,  by  which  we  can 
discern  between  right  and  wrong,  —  as  by  the  body's 
eye  between  black  and  white,  or  night  and  day  :  and  be- 
hind all  these,  and  deeper  down,  beneath  all  the  shifting 
phenomena  of  life,  we  discover  the  religious  element  of  man. 
Looking  carefully  at  this  element ;  separating  this  as  a 
cause  from  its  actions,  and  these  from  their  effects  ;  strip- 
ping this  faculty  of  all  accidental  circumstances  peculiar 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  1 

to  the  age,  nation,  sect,  or  individual,  and  pursuing  a 
sharp  and  final  analysis  till  the  subject  and  predicate  can 
no  longer  be  separated,  —  we  find  as  the  ultimate  fact, 
that  the  religious  element  first  manifests  itself  in  our 
consciousness  by  a  feeling  of  need,  of  want ;  in  one  word, 
by  a  sense  of  dependence.  This  primitive  feeling  does 
not  itself  disclose  the  character,  and  still  less  the  nature 
and  essence,  of  the  object  on  which  it  depends, —  no 
more  than  the  senses  disclose  the  nature  of  their  ob- 
jects ;  no  more  than  the  eye  or  ear  discovers  the  essence 
of  light  or  sound.  Like  them,  it  acts  spontaneously  and 
unconsciously,  soon  as  the  outward  occasion  offers, 
with  no  effort  of  will,  forethought,  or  making  up  the 
mind. 

Thus,  then,  it  appears  that  induction  from  notorious 
facts,  consciousness  spontaneously  active,  and  a  philo- 
sophical analysis  of  our  nature,  all  lead  equally  to  some 
religious  element  or  principle  as  an  essential  part  of 
man's  constitution.  Now,  when  it  is  stated  thus  nakedly 
and  abstractedly  that  man  has  in  his  nature  a  permanent 
religious  element,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  on  what  grounds 
this  primary  faculty  can  be  denied  by  any  thinking  man 
who  will  notice  the  religious  phenomena  in  history,  trust 
his  own  consciousness,  or  examine  and  analyze  the  com- 
bined elements  of  his  own  being.  It  is  true  men  do  not 
often  say  to  themselves,  "  Go  to  now.  Lo,  I  have  a 
religious  element  in  the  bottom  of  my  heart."  But 
neither  do  they  often  say,  "  Behold,  I  have  hands  and 
feet,  and  am  the  same  being  that  I  was  last  night  or 
forty  years  ago."  In  a  natural  and  healthy  state  of 
mind,  men  rarely  speak  or  think  of  what  is  felt  uncon- 
sciously to  be  most  true  and  the  basis  of  all  spiritual 
action.  It  is,  indeed,  most  abundantly  established  that 
there  is  a  relioious  element  in  man. 


8  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Now,  the  existence  of  this  religious  element,  our  experi- 
ence of  this  sense  of  dependence,  this  sentiment  of  some- 
thing without  bounds,  is  itself  a  proof  by  implication  of 
the  existence  of  its  object,  —  something  on  which  depend- 
ence rests.  A  belief  in  this  relation  between  the  feeling 
in  us  and  its  object  independent  of  us,  comes  unavoida- 
bly from  the  laws  of  man's  nature  ;  there  is  nothing  of 
which  we  can  be  more  certain.  A  natural  want  in  man's 
constitution  implies  satisfaction  in  some  quarter,  —  just 
as  the  faculty  of  seeing  implies  something  to  correspond 
to  this  faculty ;  namely,  objects  to  be  seen,  and  a  medium 
of  light  to  see  by.  As  the  tendency  to  love  implies 
something  lovely  for  its  object,  so  the  religious  conscious- 
ness implies  its  object.  If  it  is  regarded  as  a  sense  of 
absolute  dependence,  it  implies  the  absolute  on  which 
this  dependence  rests,  independent  of  ourselves. 

Spiritual  like  bodily  faculties  act  jointly,  and  not  one 
at  a  time ;  and  when  the  occasion  is  given  from  without 
us,  the  reason  spontaneously,  independent  of  our  fore- 
thought and  volition,  acting  by  its  own  laws,  gives  us  by 
intuition  an  idea  of  that  on  which  we  depend.  To  this 
idea  we  give  the  name  of  God  or  Gods,  as  it  is  repre- 
sented by  one  or  several  separate  conceptions.  Thus 
the  existence  of  God  is  implied  by  the  natural  sense  of 
dependence,  implied  in  the  religious  element  itself;  it 
is  expressed  by  the  spontaneous  intuition  of  reason. 

Now,  men  come  to  this  idea  early.  It  is  the  logical 
condition  of  all  other  ideas ;  without  this  as  an  element 
of  our  consciousness,  or  lying  latent  as  it  were  and  un- 
recognized in  us,  we  could  have  no  ideas  at  all.  The 
senses  reveal  to  us  something  external  to  the  body,  and 
independent  thereof,  on  which  it  depends ;  they  tell  not 
what  it  is.  Consciousness  reveals  something  in  like 
manner,  —  not  the  human  spirit  in  me,  but  its  absolute 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  9 

ground,  on  which  the  spirit  depends.  Outward  circum- 
stances furnish  the  occasion  by  which  we  approach  and 
discover  the  idea  of  God  ;  but  they  do  not  furnish  the 
idea  itself:  that  is  a  fact  given  by  the  nature  of  man. 
Hence  some  philosophers  have  called  it  an  innate  idea ; 
others,  a  reminiscence  of  what  the  spirit  knew  in  a 
higher  state  of  life  before  it  took  the  body.  Both 
opinions  may  be  regarded  as  rhetorical  statements  of 
the  truth  that  the  idea  of  God  is  a  fact  given  by  man's 
nature,  and  not  an  invention  or  device  of  ours.  The 
belief  in  God's  existence  therefore  is  natural,  not  against 
nature.  It  comes  unavoidably  from  the  legitimate  action 
of  the  intellectual  and  the  religious  faculties,  —  just  as 
the  belief  in  light  comes  from  using  the  eyes,  and  belief 
in  our  existence  from  mere  existing.  The  knowledge  of 
God's  existence,  therefore,  may  be  called  in  the  language 
of  philosophy  an  intuitio7i  of  reason ;  or  in  the  mytho- 
logical language  of  the  elder  theology,  a  revelation  from 
Crod. 

If  the  above  statement  be  correct,  then  our  belief  in 
God's  existence  does  not  depend  on  the  a  posteriori  argu- 
ment, —  on  considerations  drawn  from  the  order,  fitness, 
and  beauty  discovered  by  observations  made  in  the  ma- 
terial world  ;  nor  yet  on  the  a  priori  argument,  —  on  con- 
siderations drawn  from  the  eternal  nature  of  things,  and 
observations  made  in  the  spiritual  world.  It  depends 
primarily  on  no  argument  whatever ;  not  on  reasoning, 
but  reason.  The  fact  is  given  outright  as  it  were,  and 
comes  to  the  man  as  soon  and  as  naturally  as  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  existence,  and  is  indeed  logically 
inseparable  from  it,  —  for  we  cannot  be  conscious  of  our- 
selves except  as  dependent  beings. 

This  intuitive  perception  of  God  is  afterwards  fun- 
damentally and   logically  established   by  the    a  priori 


10  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

argument,  and  beautifully  confirmed  by  the  a  posteriori 
argument ;  but  we  are  not  left  without  the  idea  of  God 
till  we  become  metaphysicians  and  naturalists,  and  so 
can  discover  it  by  much  thinking.  It  comes  sponta- 
neously, by  a  law  of  whose  action  we  are  at  first  not 
conscious.  The  belief  always  precedes  the  proof,  intui- 
tion giving  the  thing  to  be  reasoned  about.  Unless  this 
intuitive  function  be  performed,  it  is  not  possible  to 
attain  a  knowledge  of  God ;  for  all  arguments  to  that 
end  must  be  addressed  to  a  faculty  which  cannot  origi- 
nate the  idea  of  God,  but  only  confirm  it  when  given 
*rom  some  other  quarter.  Any  argument  is  vain  when 
the  logical  condition  of  all  argument  has  not  been  com- 
plied with.  If  the  reasoner,  as  Dr.  Clarke  has  done,  pre- 
suppose that  his  opponent  has  "  no  transcendent  idea  of 
God,"  all  his  reasoning  could  never  produce  it,  howso- 
ever capable  of  confirming  and  legitimating  that  idea  if 
already  existing  in  the  consciousness.  As  we  may  speak 
of  sights  to  the  blind  and  sounds  to  the  deaf,  and  con- 
vince them  that  things  called  sights  and  sounds  actually 
exist,  but  can  furnish  no  idea  of  those  things  when  there 
is  no  corresponding  sensation,  —  so  we  may  convince  a 
man's  understanding  of  the  soundness  of  our  argumen- 
tation, but  yet  give  him  no  idea  of  God  unless  he  have 
previously  an  intuitive  sense  thereof.  Without  the  in- 
tuitive perception,  the  metaphysical  argument  gives  us 
only  an  idea  of  abstract  power  and  wisdom  :  the  argu- 
ment from  design  gives  only  a  limited  and  imperfect 
cause  for  the  limited  and  imperfect  effects.  Neither 
reveals  to  us  the  infinite  God. 

The  idea  of  God,  then,  transcends  all  possible  external 
experience,  and  is  given  by  intuition,  or  natural  revela- 
tion, which  comes  of  the  joint  and  spontaneous  action  of 
reason   and   the   religious   element.     Now,  tlieoretically 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  11 

this  idea  involves  no  contradiction,  and  is  perfect :  that 
is,  when  the  proper  conditions  are  complied  with,  and 
nothing  disturbs  the  free  action  of  the  spirit,  we  receive 
the  idea  of  a  being  infinite  in  power,  wisdom,  and  good- 
ness,—  that  is,  infinite,  or  perfect,  in  all  possible  rela- 
tions. But  practically,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  these 
conditions  are  not  observed  :  men  attempt  to  form  a 
complex  and  definite  conception  of  God.  The  primitive 
idea,  eternal  in  man,  is  lost  sight  of.  The  conception  of 
God,  as  men  express  it  in  their  language,  is  always  im- 
perfect, —  sometimes  self-contradictory  and  impossible. 
Human  actions,  human  thoughts,  human  feelings,  —  yes, 
human  passions  and  all  the  limitations  of  mortal  men,  — 
are  collected  about  the  idea  of  God.  Its  primitive  sim- 
plicity and  beauty  are  lost.  .  It  becomes  self-destructive  ; 
and  the  conception  of  God,  as  many  minds  set  it  forth, 
like  that  of  a  griffin  or  Centaur,  or  "  men  wdiose  heads 
do  grow  beneath  their  shoulders,"  is  self-contradictory, 
—  the  notion  of  a  being  who  from  the  very  nature  of 
things  could  not  exist.  They  for  the  most  part  have 
been  called  atheists  who  denied  the  popular  conception 
of  God,  showed  its  inconsistency,  and  proved  that  such 
a  being  could  not  be.  The  early  Christians,  and  all 
the  most  distinguished  and  religious  philosophers  have 
borne  that  name,  simply  because  they  were  too  far  before 
men  for  their  sympathy,  too  far  above  them  for  their 
comprehension,  and  because,  therefore,  their  idea  of  God 
was  sublimer  and  nearer  the  truth  than  that  held  by 
their  opponents. 

Now,  the  conception  we  form  of  God,  under  the  most 
perfect  circumstances,  must  from  tlie  nature  of  things 
fall  short  of  the  reality.  The  finite  can  form  no  ad- 
equate conception  or  imagination  of  the  infinite.  All 
the  conceptions  of  the  human  mind  arc  conceived  under 


12  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  limitation  of  time  and  space,  of  dependence  on  a 
cause  exterior  to  itself;  while  the  Infinite  is  necessarily 
free  from  these  limitations.  A  man  can  comprehend  no 
form  of  being-  but  his  own  finite  form,  which  answers  to 
the  Supreme  Being  even  less  than  a  grain  of  dust  to  the 
world  itself.  There  is  no  conceivable  ratio  between  finite 
and  infinite.  Our  human  personality  gives  a  false  mod- 
ification to  all  our  conceptions  of  the  infinite.  But  if 
not  resting  in  a  merely  sentimental  consciousness  of 
God,  —  which  is  vague,  and  alone  leads  rather  to  pan- 
theistic mysticism  than  to  a  reasonable  faith,  —  we  take 
the  fact  given  in  our  nature,  the  primitive  idea  of  God 
as  a  Being  of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness 
involves  no  contradiction.  This  is  perhaps  the  most 
faithful  expression  of  the  idea  that  words  can  convey. 
This  language  does  not  define  the  nature  of  God,  but 
distinguishes  our  idea  of  him  from  all  other  ideas  and 
conceptions  whatever.  Some  great  religious  souls  have 
been  content  with  this  native  idea ;  have  found  it  satis- 
factory both  to  faith  and  reason,  and  confessed  with  the 
ancients  that  no  man  by  searching  could  perfectly  find 
out  God.  Others  project  their  own  limitations  upon 
their  conception  of  God,  making  him  to  appear  such  an 
one  as  themselves:  thus  they  reverse  the  saying  of 
Scripture,  and  creating  a  phantom  in  their  own  image, 
call  it  God.  Thus  while  the  idea  of  God  as  a  fact  given 
in  man's  nature,  and  affording  a  consistent  representa- 
tion of  its  object,  is  permanent  and  alike  in  all ;  while 
a  merely  sentimental  consciousness  or  feeling  of  God, 
though  vague  and  mysterious,  is  always  the  same  in  it- 
self, —  the  popular  conception  of  God  is  of  the  most  vari- 
ous and  evanescent  character,  and  is  not  the  same  in  any 
two  ages  or  men.  The  idea  is  the  substance ;  the  con- 
ception is  a  transient  phenomenon,  which  at  best  only 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  13 

imperfectly  represents  the  substance.  To  possess  the 
idea  of  God,  though  latent  in  us,  is  unavoidable  ;  to  feel 
its  comfort  is  natural ;  to  dwell  in  the  sentiment  of  God 
is  delightful :  but  to  frame  an  adequate  conception  of 
deity,  and  set  this  forth  in  words,  is  not  only  above 
human  capability,  but  impossible  in  the  nature  of  things. 
The  abyss  of  God  is  not  to  be  fathomed  save  by  Him 
who  is  All-in-all. 

Now,  this  inborn  religious  faculty  is  the  basis  and 
cause  of  all  religion.  Without  this  internal  religious 
element,  either  man  could  not  have  any  religious  notions, 
nor  become  religious  at  all,  or  else  religion  would  be 
something  foreign  to  his  nature,  which  he  might  yet  be 
taught  mechanically  from  without,  as  bears  are  taught 
to  dance  and  parrots  to  talk ;  but  which,  like  this  ac- 
quired and  unnatural  accomplishment  of  the  beast  and 
the  bird,  would  divert  him  from  his  true  nature  and  per- 
fection, rendering  him  a  monster,  but  less  of  a  man  than 
he  would  be  without  the  superfetation  of  this  religion 
upon  him.  Without  a  moral  faculty,  we  could  have  no 
duties  in  respect  to  men ;  without  a  religious  faculty,  no 
duties  in  respect  of  God.  The  foundation  of  each  is  in 
man,  not  out  of  him.  If  man  have  not  a  religious  ele- 
ment in  his  nature,  miraculous  or  other  "  revelations  " 
can  no  more  render  him  religious  than  fragments  of  ser- 
mons and  leaves  of  the  Bible  can  make  a  lamb  religious 
when  mixed  and  eaten  with  its  daily  food.  The  law,  the 
duty,  and  the  destiny  of  man,  as  of  all  God's  creatures, 
are  writ  in  himself,  and  by  the  Almighty's  hand.  The 
religious  element  existing  within  us,  and  this  alone,  ren- 
ders religion  the  duty,  the  privilege,  and  the  welfare  of 
mankind.  Thus  religion  is  not  a  superinduction  upon 
the  race  as  some  would  make  it  appear,  not  an  after- 


14  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

thought  of  God  interpolated  in  human  affairs  when  the 
work  was  otherwise  complete  ;  but  it  is  an  original  neces- 
sity of  our  nature.  The  religious  element  is  deep  and 
essentially  laid  in  the  very  constitution  of  man. 

I.  Now,  this  religious  element  is  universal.  This  may 
he  proved  in  several  ways.  Whatever  exists  in  the  fun- 
damental nature  of  one  man  exists  likewise  in  all  men, 
though  in  different  degrees  and  variously  modified  by 
different  circumstances.  Human  nature  is  the  same  in 
the  men  of  all  races,  ages,  and  countries.  Man  remains 
always  identical;  only  the  differing  circumstances  of 
climate,  condition,  culture,  race,  nation,  and  individual 
modify  the  manifestations  of  what  is  at  bottom  the  same. 
Races,  ages,  nations,  and  individuals  differ  only  in  the 
various  degrees  they  possess  of  po.rticular  faculties,  and 
in  the  development  or  the  neglect  of  these  faculties. 
When,  therefore,  it  is  shown  that  the  religious  sentiment 
exists  as  a  natural  principle  in  any  one  man,  its  exist- 
ence in  all  other  men  that  are,  were,  or  shall  be,  follows 
unavoidably  from  tlie  unity  of  human  nature. 

Again,  the  universality  of  the  religious  element  is 
confirmed  by  historical  arguments,  which  also  have 
some  force.  We  discover  religious  phenomena  in  all 
lands,  wherever  man  has  advanced  above  the  primitive 
condition  of  mere  animal  wildness.  Of  course  there 
must  have  been  a  period  in  his  development  when  the 
religious  faculties  had  not  come  to  conscious  activity ; 
but  after  that  state  of  spiritual  infancy  is  passed  by, 
religious  emotions  appear  in  the  rudest  and  most  civi- 
lized state, —  among  the  cannibals  of  New  Zealand  and 
the  refined  voluptuaries  of  old  Babylon ;  in  the  Esqui- 
maux fisherman  and  the  Parisian  philosopher.  The 
subsequent  history  of  men  shows  no  period  in  which 
these  phenomena  do  not   appear;   man  worships,  feels 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  15 

dependence  and  acconntabilit}^,  religious  fear  or  hope, 
and  gives  signs  of  these  spiritual  emotions  all  the  world 
over.  No  nation  with  fire  and  garments  has  been  found 
so  savage  that  they  have  not  attained  this ;  none  so  refined 
as  to  outgrow  it.  The  widest  observation,  therefore,  as 
well  as  a  philosophical  deduction  from  the  nature  of  man, 
warrants  the  conclusion  that  this  sentiment  is  universal. 

But  at  first  glance  there  are  some  apparent  exceptions 
to  this  rule.  A  few  persons  from  time  to  time  arise  and 
claim  the  name  of  atheist.  But  even  these  admit  they 
feel  this  religious  tendency  ;  they  acknowledge  a  sense 
of  dependence,  which  they  refer,  not  to  the  sound  action 
of  a  natural  element  in  their  constitution,  but  to  a  dis- 
ease thereof,  to  the  influence  of  culture  or  the  instruction 
of  their  nurses,  and  count  it  an  obstinate  disease  of  their 
mind,  or  else  a  prejudice  early  imbibed  and  not  easily 
removed.  Even  if  some  one  could  be  found  who  denied 
that  he  ever  felt  any  religious  emotion  whatever,  how- 
ever feebly,  —  this  would  prove  nothing  against  the  uni- 
versality of  its  existence,  and  no  more  against  the  general 
rule  of  its  manifestation  than  the  rare  fact  of  a  child 
born  with  a  single  arm  proves  against  the  general  rule 
that  man  by  nature  has  two  arms. 

Again,  travellers  tell  us  some  nations  with  consider- 
able civilization  have  no  God,  no  priests,  no  worship, 
and  therefore  give  no  sign  of  the  existence  of  the  reli- 
gious element  in  them.  Admitting  they  state  a  fact,  we 
are  not  to  conclude  the  religious  element  is  wanting  in 
the  savages  ;  only  that  they,  like  infants,  have  not  at- 
tained the  proper  stage  when  we  could  discover  signs 
of  its  action.  But  these  travellers  are  often  mistaken. 
Their  observations  have  in  such  cases  been  superficial, 
made  with  but  a  slight  knowledge  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  nation  they  treat.     And,  besides,  their 


16  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

prejudice  blinded  their  eyes.  They  looked  for  a  regular 
worship,  doctrines  of  religion,  priests,  temples,  images, 
forms,  and  ceremonies.  But  there  is  one  stage  of  relig- 
ious consciousness  in  which  none  of  these  signs  appear, 
and  yet  the  religious  element  is  at  its  work.  The  travel- 
lers, not  finding  the  usual  signs  of  worship,  denied  the 
existence  of  worship  itself,  and  even  of  any  religious  con- 
sciousness in  the  nation.  But  if  they  had  found  a  people 
ignorant  of  cookery  and  without  the  implements  of  that 
art,  it  would  be  quite  as  wise  to  conclude  from  this  nega- 
tive testimony  that  the  nation  never  ate  nor  drank.  On 
such  evidence,  the  early  Christians  were  convicted  of 
atheism  by  the  Pagans,  and  subsequently  the  Pagans  by 
the  Christians. 

There  is  still  one  other  case  of  apparent  exception  to 
the  rule.  Some  persons  have  been  found  who  in  early 
childhood  were  separated  from  human  society,  and  grew 
up  towards  the  years  of  maturity  in  an  isolated  state, 
having  no  contact  with  their  fellow-mortals.  These  give 
no  signs  of  any  religious  element  in  their  nature.  But 
other  universal  faculties  of  the  race,  the  tendency  to 
laugh,  and  to  speak  articulate  words,  give  quite  as  little 
sign  of  their  existence.  Yet  when  these  unfortunate 
persons  are  exposed  to  the  ordinary  influence  of  life,  the 
religious,  like  other  faculties,  does  its  work.  Hence  we 
may  conclude  it  existed,  though  dormant  until  the  proper 
conditions  of  its  development  were  supplied. 

These  three  apparent  exceptions  serve  only  to  confirm 
the  rule  that  the  religious  sentiment,  like  the  power  of 
attention,  thought,  and  love,  is  universal  in  the  race. 
Yet  it  is  plain  that  there  was  a  period  in  which  the 
primitive  wild  man,  without  language  or  self-conscious- 
ness, gave  no  sign  of  any  religious  faculty  at  all ;  still 
the  original  element  lay  in  this  baby-man. 


THE  RELIGIOUS   ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  17 

However,  like  other  faculties,  tin's  is  possessed  in  dif- 
ferent degrees  by  different  races,  nations,  and  individuals, 
and  at  particular  epochs  of  the  world's  or  the  individual's 
history  acquires  a  predominance  it  has  not  at  other  times. 
It  seems  God  never  creates  two  races,  nations,  or  men, 
with  precisely  the  same  endowments.  There  is  a  differ- 
ence, more  or  less  striking,  between  the  intellectual, 
aisthctic,  and  moral  develoi)ment  of  two  races  or  nations, 
or  even  between  two  men  of  the  same  race  and  nation. 
This  difference  seems  to  be  the  effect,  not  merely  of  the 
different  circumstances  whereto  they  are  exposed,  but 
also  of  the  different  endowments  with  which  they  set 
out.  If  we  watch  in  history  the  gradual  development 
and  evolution  of  the  human  race,  we  see  that  one  nation 
takes  the  lead  in  the  march  of  mind,  pursues  science, 
literature,  and  the  arts  ;  another  in  war,  and  the  practi- 
cal business  of  political  thrift;  while  a  third  nation, 
prominent  neither  for  science  nor  political  skill,  takes 
the  lead  in  religion,  and  in  the  comparative  strength  of 
its  religious  consciousness  surpasses  both. 

Three  forms  of  monotheistic  religion  have,  at  various 
times,  come  up  in  the  world's  history.  Two  of  them  at 
this  moment  perhaps  outnumber  the  votaries  of  all  other 
religions,  and  divide  between  them  the  more  advanced 
civilization  of  mankind.  These  three  are  the  Mosaic, 
the  Christian,  and  the  Mahometan ;  all  recognizing  the 
unity  of  God,  the  religious  nature  of  man,  and  the  re- 
lation between  God  and  man.  All  of  these,  surprising 
as  it  is,  came  from  one  family  of  men,  the  Shemitic, 
who  spoke  in  substance  the  same  language,  lived  in  the 
same  country,  and  had  the  same  customs  and  political 
institutions.  Even  that  wide-spread  and  more  monstrous 
form  of  religion  which  our  fathers  had  in  the  wilds  of 
Europe  betrays  its  likeness  to  this  Oriental  stock  ;  and 

2 


18  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

that  form,  still  earlier,  which  dotted  Greece  all  over  with 
its  temples,  filling  the  isles  of  the  Mediterranean  with  its 
solemn  and  mysterious  chant,  came  apparently  from  the 
same  source.  The  beautiful  spirit  of  the  Greek,  modi- 
fied, enlarged,  and  embellished  what  Oriental  piety  at 
first  called  down  from  the  Empyrean.  The  nations  now 
at  the  head  of  modern  civilization  have  not  developed 
independently  their  power  of  creative  religious  genius, 
so  to  say  ;  for  each  form  of  worship  that  has  prevailed 
with  them  was  originally  derived  from  some  other  race. 
These  nations  are  more  scientific  than  religious,  reflec- 
tive rather  than  spontaneous,  utilitarian  more  than  rev- 
erential ;  and,  so  far  as  history  relates,  have  never  yet 
created  a  permanent  form  of  religion  which  has  extended 
to  other  families  of  men.  Their  faith,  like  their  choicer 
fruits,  is  an  importation  from  abroad,  not  an  indigenous 
plant,  though  now  happily  naturalized,  and  rendered  pro- 
ductive in  their  soil.  Of  all  nations  hitherto  known, 
these  are  the  most  disposed  to  reflection,  literature, 
science,  and  the  practical  arts ;  while  the  Shemitish 
tribes  in  their  early  age  were  above  all  others  religious, 
and  have  had  an  influence  in  religious  history  entirely 
disproportionate  to  their  numbers,  their  art,  their  science, 
or  their  laws.  Out  of  the  heart  of  this  ancient  family 
of  nations  flowed  forth  that  triple  stream  of  pious  life 
which  even  now  gives  energy  to  the  pulsations  of  the 
world.  Egypt  and  Greece  have  stirred  the  intellect  of 
mankind,  and  spoken  to  our  love  of  the  grand,  the  beau- 
tiful, the  true,  to  faculties  that  lie  deep  in  us.  But  this 
Oriental  people  have  touched  the  soul  of  men,  and  awak- 
ened reverence  for  the  good,  the  holy,  the  altogether 
beautiful  which  lies  in  the  profoundest  deep  of  all.  The 
religious  element  appears  least  conspicuous,  it  may  be, 
in  some  nations  of  Australia,  —  perhaps  the  most  bar- 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  19 

barous  of  men.  With  savages  in  general  it  is  in  its 
infancy,  like  all  the  nobler  attributes  of  man ;  but  as 
they  develop  their  nature,  this  faculty  becomes  more  and 
more  apparent. 

II.  Again,  this  element  is  indestructible  in  human 
nature.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  caprice  within,  nor 
external  circumstances,  —  war  or  peace,  freedom  or 
slavery,  ignorance  or  refinement,  —  wholly  to  abolish  or 
destroy  it.  Its  growth  may  be  retarded  or  quickened, 
its  power  misdirected  or  suffered  to  flow  in  its  proper 
channel ;  but  no  violence  from  within,  no  violence  from 
without,  can  ever  destroy  this  element.  It  were  as  easy 
to  extirpate  hunger  and  thirst  from  the  sound  living 
body  as  this  element  from  the  spirit.  It  may  sleep,  it 
never  dies.  Kept  down  by  external  force  to-day,  it 
flames  up  to  heaven  in  streams  of  light  to-morrow. 
When  perverted  from  its  natural  course,  it  writes  in 
devastation  its  chronicles  of  wrongs,  —  a  horrid  page  of 
human  history  which  proves  its  awful  power,  as  the 
strength  of  the  human  muscle  is  proved  by  the  distor- 
tions of  the  maniac.  Sensual  men,  who  hate  the 
restraints  of  religion,  who  know  nothing  of  its  encour- 
agements, strive  to  pluck  up  by  the  roots  this  plant 
which  God  has  set  in  the  midst  of  the  garden.  But 
there  it  stands, — the  tree  of  knowledge,  the  tree  of  life. 
Even  such  as  boast  the  name  of  infidel  and  atheist  find, 
unconsciously,  repose  in  its  wide  shadow,  and  refresh- 
ment in  its  fruit.  It  blesses  obedient  men.  He  who 
violates  the  divine  law,  and  thus  would  wring  this  feel- 
ing from  his  heart,  feels  it,  like  a  heated  iron,  in  the 
marrow  of  his  bones. 

III.  Still  further,  this  religious  element  is  the  strong- 
est and  deepest  in  human  nature.  It  depends  on  noth- 
ing outside,  conventional,  or  artificial.     It  is  identical  in 


20  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

all  men;  not  a  similar  thing,  but  the  same.  Super- 
ficially, man  differs  from  man,  in  the  less  and  more ; 
but  in  the  nature  of  the  primitive  religious  element  all 
agree,  as  in  whatever  is  deepest.  Out  of  the  profoundest 
abyss  in  man  proceed  his  worship,  his  prayer,  his  hymn 
of  praise.  The  history  of  the  world  shows  us  what  a 
space  religion  fills.  She  is  the  mother  of  philosophy 
and  the  arts  ;  has  presided  over  the  greatest  wars.  She 
holds  now  all  nations  with  her  unseen  hand  ;  restrains 
their  passions,  more  powerful  than  all  the  cunning  stat- 
utes of  the  lawgiver ;  awakens  their  virtue ;  allays  their 
sorrows  with  a  mild  comfort  all  her  own;  brightens 
their  hopes  with  the  purple  ray  of  faith,  shed  through 
the  sombre  curtains  of  necessity. 

Religious  emotion  often  controls  society,  inspires  the 
lawgiver  and  the  artist,  —  is  the  deep-moving  principle ; 
it  has  called  forth  the  greatest  heroism  of  past  ages; 
the  proudest  deeds  of  daring  and  endurance  have  been 
done  in  its  name.  Without  religion,  all  the  sages  of  a 
kingdom  cannot  build  a  city ;  but  with  it,  how  a  rude 
fanatic  sways  the  mass  of  men  !  The  greatest  works  of 
human  art  have  risen  only  at  religion's  call.  The  mar- 
ble is  pliant  at  her  magic  touch,  and  seems  to  breathe  a 
pious  life.  The  chiselled  stone  is  instinct  with  a  living 
soul,  and  stands  there  silent,  yet  full  of  hymns  and 
prayers, —  an  embodied  aspiration,  a  thought  with  wings 
that  mock  at  space  and  time.  The  temples  of  the  East, 
the  cathedrals  of  the  West,  altar  and  column  and  statue 
and  image,  —  these  are  the  tribute  Art  pays  to  her. 
Whence  did  Michael  Angelo,  Phidias,  Praxiteles,  and  all 
the  mighty  sons  of  Art  who  chronicled  their  awful 
thoughts  in  stone,  shaping  brute  matter  to  a  divine  form, 
building  up  the  Pyramid  and  Parthenon,  or  forcing  the 
hard  elements  to  swell  into  the  arch,  aspire  into   the 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  21 

dome  or  the  fantastic  tower,  —  whence  did  they  draw 
their  inspiration  ?  All  their  greatest  wonders  are 
wrought  in  religion's  name.  In  the  very  dawn  of  time, 
Genius  looks  through  the  clouds,  and  lifts  up  his  voice 
in  hymns  and  songs  and  stories  of  the  gods ;  and  the 
Angel  of  Music  carves  out  her  thanksgiving,  her  peni- 
tence, her  prayers  for  man,  on  the  unseen  air,  as  a  votive 
gift  for  her.  Her  sweetest  note,  her  most  majestic  chant, 
she  breathes  only  at  religion's  call.  Thus  it  has  always 
been.  A  thousand  men  will  readily  become  celibate 
monks  for  religion.  Would  they  for  gold,  or  ease,  or 
fame  ? 

The  greatest  sacrifices  ever  made  are  offered  in  the 
name  of  religion.  For  this  a  man  will  forego  ease, 
peace,  friends,  society,  wife,  and  child,  —  all  that  mortal 
flesh  holds  dearest :  no  danger  is  too  dangerous,  no  suf- 
fering too  stern  to  bear,  if  Religion  say  the  word.  Sim- 
eon the  Stylite  will  stay  years  long  on  his  pillar's  top, 
the  devotee  of  Buddha  tear  off  his  palpitating  flesh  to 
serve  his  god.  The  Pagan  idolater,  bowing  down  to  a 
false  image  of  stone,  renounces  his  possessions ;  submits 
to  barbarous  and  cruel  rites,  shameful  mutilation  of  his 
limbs  ;  gives  the  first-born  of  his  body  for  the  sin  of 
his  soul ;  casts  his  own  person  to  destruction,  because 
he  dreams  Baal  or  Saturn,  Jehovah  or  Moloch,  demands 
the  sacrifice.  The  Christian  idolater,  doing  equal  hom- 
age to  a  lying  thought,  gives  up  common-sense,  reason, 
conscience,  love  of  his  brother,  at  the  same  fancied  man- 
date ;  is  ready  to  credit  most  obvious  absurdities,  accept 
contradictions,  do  what  conflicts  with  the  moral  sense, 
believe  dogmas  that  make  life  dark,  eternity  dreadful, 
man  a  worm  and  God  a  tyrant,  —  dogmas  that  make 
him  count  as  cursed  half  his  brother  men,  —  because 
told  such  is  his  duty,  in  the  name  of  religion.     In  this 


22  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

name  Thomas  More,  the  ablest  head  of  his  times,  will 
believe  a  bit  of  bread  becomes  the  Almighty  God,  when 
a  lewd  priest  but  mumbles  his  juggling  Latin  and  lifts 
up  his  hands.  In  our  day,  heads  as  able  as  Thomas 
More's  believe  doctrines  quite  as  absurd,  because  taught 
as  religion  and  God's  command.  In  its  behalf,  the  fool- 
ishest  teaching  becomes  acceptable ;  the  foulest  doc- 
trines, the  grossest  conduct,  crimes  that,  like  the  fabled 
banquet  of  Thyestes,  might  make  the  sun  sicken  at  the 
sight  and  turn  back  affrighted  in  his  course,  —  these 
things  are  counted  as  beautiful,  superior  to  reason, 
acceptable  to  God.  The  wicked  man  may  bless  his 
brother  in  crime,  the  unrighteous  blast  the  holy  with 
his  curse ;  and  devotees  shall  shout  "  Amen  "  to  both 
the  blessing  and  the  ban. 

On  what  other  authority  have  rites  so  bloody  been 
accepted  ;  or  doctrines  so  false  to  reason,  so  libellous  of 
God  ?  For  what  else  has  man  achieved  such  works  and 
made  such  sacrifice  ?  In  what  name  but  this  will  the 
man  of  vast  and  far  out-stretching  mind,  the  counsellor, 
the  chief,  the  sage,  the  native  king  of  men,  forego  the 
vastness  of  his  thought,  put  out  his  spirit's  eyes,  and 
bow  him  to  a  drivelling  wretch  who  knows  nothing  but 
treacherous  mummery  and  juggling  tricks  ?  In  religion 
this  has  been  done  from  the  first  false  propbet  to  the 
last  false  priest ;  and  the  pride  of  the  understanding  is 
abashed,  the  supremacy  of  reason  degraded,  the  majesty 
of  conscience  trampled  on,  the  beautifulness  of  faith 
and  love  trodden  down  into  the  mire  of  the  streets. 
The  hand,  the  foot,  the  eye,  the  ear,  the  tongue,  the 
most  sacred  members  of  the  body  ;  judgment,  imagina- 
tion, the  overmastering  faculties  of  mind  ;  justice,  mercy, 
and  love,  the  fairest  affections  of  the  soul,  —  all  these 
have  been   reckoned   a  poor  and   paltry  sacrifice,  and 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  23 

lopped  off  at  the  shrine  of  God  as  things  unholy.  This 
has  been  done,  not  only  by  Pagan  polytheists  and  savage 
idolaters,  but  by  Christian  devotees,  accomplished  schol- 
ars, the  enlightened  men  of  enlightened  times. 

These  melancholy  results,  which  are  but  aberrations 
of  the  religious  element,  the  disease  of  the  baby,  not  the 
soundness  of  mankind,  have  often  been  confounded  with 
religion  itself,  regarded  as  the  legitimate  fruit  of  the 
religious  faculty.  Hence  men  have  said,  "  Such  results 
prove  that  religion  itself  is  a  popular  fury,  the  foolish- 
ness of  the  people,  the  madness  of  mankind."  They 
prove  a  very  different  thing.  They  show  the  depth, 
the  strength,  the  awful  power  of  that  element  which 
thus  can  overmaster  all  the  rest  of  man,  —  passion 
and  conscience,  reason  and  love.  Tell  a  man  his  inter- 
est requires  a  sacrifice,  he  hesitates ;  convince  him 
his  religion  demands  it,  and  crowds  rush  at  once,  and 
joyful,  to  a  martyr's  fiery  death.  It  is  the  best  things 
that  are  capable  of  the  worst  abuse  :  the  very  abuse 
may  test  the  value. 

The  legitimate  action  of  the  religious  element  produces 
reverence.  This  reverence  may  ascend  into  trust,,  hope, 
and  love,  which  is  according  to  its  nature  ;  or  descend 
into  doubt,  fear,  and  hate,  which  is  against  its  nature  : 
it  thus  rises  or  falls,  as  it  coexists  in  the  individual  with 
wisdom  and  goodness,  or  with  ignorance  and  vice.  How- 
ever, the  legitimate  and  normal  action  of  the  religious 
element  leads  ultimately,  and  of  necessity,  to  reverence, 
absolute  trust,  and  perfect  love  of  God.  These  are  the 
result  only  of  its  sound  and  healthy  action. 

Now,  there  can  be  but  one  kind  of  religion,  as  there 
can  be  but  one  kind  of  time  and  space.  It  may  exist  in 
different  degrees,  weak  or  powerful ;  in  combination  with 


24  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

other  emotions,  love  or  hate,  with  wisdom  or  folly ;  and 
thus  it  is  superficially  modified,  just  as  love,  which  is 
always  the  same  thing,  is  modified  by  the  character  of 
the  man  who  feels  it,  and  by  that  of  the  object  to  which 
it  is  directed.  Of  course,  then,  there  is  no  difference 
but  of  words  between  revealed  religion  and  natural  reli- 
gion ;  for  all  actual  religion  is  revealed  in  us,  or  it  could 
not  be  felt,  and  all  revealed  religion  is  natural,  or  it 
would  be  of  no  use.  What  is  of  use  to  a  man  comes 
upon  the  plane  of  his  consciousness,  not  merely  above 
it,  or  below  it.  We  may  regard  religion  from  differ- 
ent points  of  view,  and  give  corresponding  names  to 
our  partial  conceptions,  which  we  have  purposely  lim- 
ited ;  and  so  speak  of  natural  and  revealed  religion, 
monotheistic,  polytheistic,  or  pantheistic,  Pagan,  Jewish, 
Christian,  Mahometan  religion.  But  in  these  cases  the 
distinction  indicated  by  the  terms  belongs  to  the  think- 
er's mind,  —  not  to  religion  itself,  the  object  of  thought. 
Historical  phenomena  of  religion  vary  in  the  more  and 
less.  Some  express  it  purely  and  beautifully  ;  others 
mingle  foreign  emotions  with  it,  and  but  feebly  represent 
the  pious  feeling. 

To  determine  the  question  what  is  absolute — that  is, 
perfect  —  religion,  religion  with  no  limitation,  we  are  not 
to  gather  to  a  focus  the  scattered  rays  of  all  the  various 
forms  under  which  religion  has  appeared  in  history,  for 
we  can  never  collect  the  absolute  from  any  number  of 
imperfect  phenomena ;  and,  besides,  in  making  the  search 
and  forming  an  eclecticism  from  all  the  historical  relig- 
ious phenomena,  we  presuppose  in  ourselves  the  cri- 
terion by  which  they  are  judged,  —  namely,  the  absolute 
itself  which  we  seek  to  construct,  —  and  thus  move  only 
in  a  circle,  and  end  where  we  began.  To  answer  the 
question,  we  must  go  back  to   the  primitive  facts   of 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  25 

religious  consciousness  within  us.  Then  we  find  religion 
is  voluntary  obedience  to  the  laiv  of  God,  inward  and  out- 
ivard  obedience  to  that  law  he  has  written  on  our  nature, 
revealed  in  various  ways  through  instinct,  reason,  con- 
science, and  the  religious  emotions.  Through  it  we 
regard  Him  as  the  absolute  object  of  reverence,  faith, 
and  love.  This  obedience  may  be  unconscious,  as  in 
little  children  who  have  known  no  contradiction  between 
duty  and  desire  ;  and  perhaps  involuntary  in  the  perfect 
saint,  to  whom  all  duties  are  desirable,  who  has  ended 
the  contradiction  by  willing  himself  God's  will,  and  thus 
becoming  one  with  God.  It  may  be  conscious,  as  with 
many  men  whose  strife  is  not  yet  over.  It  seems  the 
highest  and  completest  mode  of  religion  must  be  self- 
conscious,  —  free  goodness,  free  piety,  and  free,  self-con- 
scious trust  in  God. 

Now,  there  are  two  tendencies  connected  with  religion: 
one  is  speculative  ;  here  the  man  is  intellectually  em- 
ployed in  matters  pertaining  to  religion,  to  God,  to  man's 
religious  nature,  and  his  relation  and  connection  with 
God.  The  result  of  this  tendency  is  theology.  This  is 
not  religion  itself  ;  it  is  men's  thought  about  religion,  — 
the  philosophy  of  divine  things,  the  science  of  religion ; 
its  sphere  is  the  mind  of  men.  Religion  and  theology 
are  no  more  to  be  confounded  than  the  stars  with 
astronomy. 

While  the  religious  element,  like  the  intellectual  or 
the  moral,  or  human  nature  itself,  remains  ever  the  same, 
the  religious  consciousness  of  mankind  is  continually 
progressive ;  and  so  theology,,  which  is  the  intellectual 
expression  thereof,  advances,  like  all  other  science,  from 
age  to  age.  The  most  various  theological  doctrines  exist 
in  connection  with  religious  emotions,  helping  or  hinder- 
ing man's  general  development.     The  highest  notion  I 


26  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

can  form  of  religion  is  tliis,  which  I  called  the  absolute 
religion  :  conscious  service  of  the  infinite  God  by  keeping 
every  law  he  has  enacted  into  the  constitution  of  the  uni- 
yerse, — service  of  Him  by  the  normal  use,  discipline,  de- 
velopment, and  delight  of  every  limb  of  the  body,  every 
faculty  of  the  spirit,  and  so  of  all  the  powers  we  possess. 
The  other  tendency  is  practical ;  here  the  man  is  em- 
ployed in  acts  of  obedience  to  religion.  The  result  of 
this  tendency  is  morality.  This  alone  is  not  religion 
itself,  but  one  part  of  the  life  religion  demands.  There 
may  be  morality  deep  and  true  with  little  or  no  purely 
religious  consciousness ;  for  a  sharp  analysis  separates 
between  the  religious  and  moral  elements  in  a  man. 
Morality  is  the  harmony  between  man's  action  and  the 
natural  law  of  God.  It  is  a  part  of  religion  which  in- 
cludes it  "  as  the  sea  her  waves."  In  its  highest  form 
morality  doubtless  implies  religious  emotions,  but  not 
necessarily  the  self-consciousness  thereof.  For  though 
piety,  the  love  of  God,  and  benevolence,  the  love  of  man, 
do  logically  involve  each  other,  yet  experience  shows  that 
a  man  may  see  and  observe  the  distinction  between  right 
and  wrong,  clearly  and  disinterestedly,  without  con- 
sciously feeling,  as  such,  reverence,  or  love  of  God ;  that 
is,  he  may  be  truly  moral  up  to  a  certain  point,  without 
being  consciously  religious,  though  he  cannot  be  truly 
religious  without  at  the  same  time  being  moral  also. 
But  in  a  harmonious  man,  the  two  are  practically  in- 
separable as  substance  and  form.  The  merely  moral 
man,  in  the  actions,  thoughts,  and  feelings  which  relate 
to  his  fellow-mortal,  obeys  the  eternal  law  of  duty  re- 
vealed in  his  nature,  as  such,  and  from  love  of  that  law, 
without  regard  to  its  Author.  The  religious  man  obeys 
the  same  law,  but  regards  it  as  the  will  of  God.  One 
rests  in  the  law,  the  other  only  in  its  Author. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN  MAN.  27 

Now,  in  all  forms  of  religion  there  must  be  a  common 
element  which  is  the  same  thing  in  each  man ;  not  a 
similar  thing,  but  just  the  same  thing,  different  only  in 
degree,  not  in  kind,  and  in  its  direction  towards  one  or 
many  objects  ;  in  both  of  which  particulars  it  is  influenced 
in  some  measure  by  external  circumstances.  Then,  since 
men  exist  under  most  various  conditions  and  in  widely 
different  degrees  of  civilization,  it  is  plain  that  the  re- 
ligious consciousness  must  appear  under  various  forms, 
accompanied  with  various  doctrines  as  to  the  number 
and  nature  of  its  objects,  the  deities  ;  with  various  rites, 
forms,  and  ceremonies,  as  it  means  to  appease,  propitiate, 
and  serve  these  objects  ;  with  various  organizations,  de- 
signed to  accomplish  the  purposes  which  it  is  supposed 
to  demand ;  and,  in  short,  with  apparently  various  and 
even  opposite  effects  upon  life  and  character.  As  all 
men  are  at  bottom  the  same,  but  as  no  two  nations  or 
ages  are  exactly  alike  in  character,  circumstances,  or 
development,  so,  therefore,  though  the  religious  element 
be  the  same  in  all,  we  must  expect  to  find  that  its  mani- 
festations are  never  exactly  alike  in  any  two  ages  or 
nations,  though  they  give  the  same  name  to  their  form 
of  worship.  If  we  look  still  more  minutely,  we  see  that 
no  two  men  are  exactly  alike  in  character,  circumstances, 
and  development,  and,  therefore,  that  no  two  men  can 
exhibit  their  religion  in  just  the  same  way,  though  they 
kneel  at  the  same  altar,  and  pronounce  the  same  creed. 
From  the  difference  between  men,  it  follows  that  there 
must  be  as  many  different  subjective  conceptions  of  God, 
and  forms  of  religion,  as  there  are  men  and  women  who 
think  about  God,  and  apply  their  thoughts  and  feelings 
to  life.  Hence,  though  the  religious  faculty  be  always 
the  same  in  all,  the  doctrines  of  religion,  or  theology  ; 
the  forms  of  religion,  or  mode  of  worship ;  and  the  prac- 


28  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

tice  of  religion,  which  is  morality,  cannot  be  the  same 
thing  in  any  two  men,  though  one  mother  bore  them, 
and  they  were  educated  in  the  same  way.  The  concep- 
tion we  form  of  God,  our  notion  about  man, —  of  the 
relation  between  him  and  God,  of  the  duties  which  grow 
out  of  that  relation,  —  may  be  taken  as  the  exponent  of  all 
the  man's  thoughts,  feelings,  and  life.  They  are  there- 
fore alike  the  measure  and  the  result  of  the  total  de- 
velopment of  a  man,  an  age,  or  race.  If  these  things 
are  so,  then  the  phenomena  of  religion  —  like  those  of 
science  and  art  —  must  vary  from  land  to  land,  and  age 
to  age,  with  the  varying  civilization  of  mankind ;  must 
be  one  thing  in  New  Zealand,  and  the  first  century,  and 
something  quite  different  in  New  England,  and  the  fifty- 
ninth  century.  They  must  be  one  thing  in  the  wise  man, 
and  another  in  the  foolish  man.  They  must  vary  also 
in  the  same  individual,  for  a  man's  wisdom,  goodness, 
and  general  character,  affect  the  phenomena  of  his 
religion.  The  religion  of  the  boy  and  the  man,  of  Saul 
the  youth,  and  Paul  the  aged,  how  unlike  they  appear. 
The  boy's  prayer  will  not  fill  the  man's  heart ;  nor  can 
the  stripling  son  of  Zebedee  comprehend  that  devotion 
and  life  which  he  shall  enjoy  when  he  becomes  the  saint 
mature  in  years. 


NA  TURALISM  —  SPIRITUALISM.  29 


NATURALISM,    SUPERNATURALISM,    AND 
SPIRITUALISM. 

Natuealism  allows  that  the  original  powers  of  nature, 
as  shown  in  the  inorganic,  the  vegetaljle,  and  the  animal 
world,  all  came  from  God  at  the  first ;  that  he  is  a  prin- 
ciple either  material  or  spiritual,  separate  from  the 
world,  and  independent  thereof.  He  made  the  w^orld 
and  all  things,  including  man,  and  stamped  on  them 
certain  laws,  which  they  are  to  keep.  He  was  but 
transiently  present  and  active  in  nature  at  creation ;  is 
not  immanently  present  and  active  therein.  He  has  now 
nothing  to  do  with  the  world  but  to  see  it  go.  Here, 
then,  is  God  on  the  one  side  ;  on  the  other,  man  and 
nature.  But  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  them, 
over  which  there  passes  neither  God  nor  man. 

This  theory  teaches  that  man,  in  addition  to  his  organs 
of  perception,  has  certain  intellectual  faculties  by  which 
he  can  reason  from  effect  to  cause ;  can  discover  truth, 
which  is  the  statement  of  a  fact ;  from  a  number  of  facts 
in  science  can  discern  a  scientific  law,  the  relation  of 
thing  to  thing ;  from  a  number  of  facts  in  morals  can 
learn  the  relation  of  man  to  man,  deduce  a  moral  law 
which  shall  teach  the  most  expedient  and  profita])le  way 
of  managing  affairs.  Its  statement  of  both  scientific  and 
moral  facts  rests  solely  on  experience,  and  never  goes 
beyond  the  precedents.  Still  further,  it  allows  that  men 
can  find  out  there  is  a  God  by  reasoning  experimentally 
from  observations  in  the  material  world,  and  metaphysi- 


30  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

cally  also  from  the  connection  of  notions  in  the  mind. 
But  this  conchision  is  only  to  he  reached  in  either  case 
hy  a  process  that  is  long,  complicated,  tortuous,  and  so 
difficult  that  hut  one  man  in  some  thousands  has  the 
necessary  experhnental  knowledge,  and  hut  one  in  some 
millions  the  metaphysical  suhtlety  requisite  to  go  through 
it  and  become  certain  that  there  is  a  God.  Its  notion  of 
God  is  this,  —  a  Being  who  exists  as  the  power,  mind, 
and  will  that  caused  the  universe. 

The  metaphysical  philosophy  of  this  system  may  be 
briefly  stated.  In  man  by  nature  there  is  nothing  but 
man  ;  there  is  but  one  channel  by  which  knowledge  can 
come  into  man  ;  that  is  sensation,  perception  through  the 
senses.  That  is  an  assumption,  nobody  pretends  it  is 
proved.  This  knowledge  is  modified  by  reflection,  —  the 
mind's  process  of  ruminating  upon  the  knowledge  which 
sensation  affords.  At  any  given  time,  therefore,  if  we 
examine  what  is  in  man  we  find  nothing  which  has  not 
first  been  in  the  senses.  Now,  the  senses  converse  only 
with  finite  phenomena.  Reflection  —  what  can  it  get 
out  of  these  ?  The  absolute  ?  The  premise  does  not 
warrant  the  conclusion.  Something  "  as  good  as  infin- 
ite "  ?  Let  us  see.  It  makes  a  scientific  law  a  mere 
generalization  from  observed  facts  which  it  can  never 
go  beyond.  Its  science,  therefore,  is  in  the  rear  of  obser- 
vation ;  we  do  not  know  thereby  whether  the  next  stone 
shall  fall  to  the  ground  or  from  it.  All  it  can  say  of  the 
universality  of  any  law  of  science  is  this,  "  So  far  as  we 
have  seen,  it  is  so."  It  cannot  pass  from  the  particular 
to  the  universal.  It  makes  a  moral  law  the  result  of 
external  experience,  merely  an  induction  from  moral 
facts,  not  the  affirmation  of  man's  moral  nature  declar- 
ing the  eternal  rule  of  right.  It  learns  morality  by 
seeing  what  plan  succeeds  best  in  the  long  run.     Its 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  31 

morality,  therefore,  is  selfishness  verified  by  experiment. 
A  man  in  a  new  case,  for  which  he  can  find  no  prece- 
dents, knows  not  what  to  do.  He  is  never  certain  he  is 
right  till  he  gets  the  reward.  Its  moral  law  at  present, 
like  the  statute  law,  is  the  slowly  elaborated  product  of 
centuries  of  experience.  It  pretends  to  find  out  God  as 
a  law  in  science  solely  by  reasoning  from  effect  to  cause, 
from  a  plan  to  the  designer.  Then  on  what  does  a  man's 
belief  in  God  depend  ?  On  man's  nature  acting  spon- 
taneously ?  No  ;  for  there  is  nothing  in  man  but  man, 
and  nothing  comes  in  but  sensations  which  do  not  directly 
give  us  God.  It  depends  on  reflection,  argument,  that 
process  of  reasoning  mentioned  before.  Now,  admitting 
that  sensation  affords  sufficient  premise  for  the  conclu- 
sion, there  is  a  difficulty  in  the  way.  The  man  must 
either  depend  on  his  own  reasoning  or  that  of  another. 
In  the  one  case  he  may  be  mistaken,  in  an  argument 
so  long,  crooked,  and  difficult.  It  is  at  best  an  infer- 
ence. The  "  hypothesis  of  a  God,"  as  some  impiously 
call  it,  may  thus  rest  on  no  better  argument  than  the 
hypothesis  of  vortices  or  epicycles.  In  the  other  case, 
if  we  trust  another  man  he  may  be  mistaken  ;  still  worse, 
may  design  to  deceive  the  inquirer,  as  we  are  told  the 
heathen  sages  did.  Where,  then,  is  the  certain  convic- 
tion of  any  God  at  all  ?  This  theory  allows  none  ;  its 
"  proof  of  the  existence  of  God  "  is  a  proof  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  God,  perhaps  of  his  probability,  —  surely  no 
more. 

But  the  case  is  yet  worse.  In  any  argumentation 
there  must  be  no  more  expressed  in  the  conclusion  than 
is  logically  and  confessedly  implied  in  the  premises. 
When  finite  phenomena  are  the  only  premises,  whence 
comes  the  idea  of  infinite  God  ?  It  denies  that  man  has 
any  idea  of  the  absolute,  infinite,  perfect.     Instead  of 


32  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

this,  it  allows  only  an  accumulative  notion,  formed  from 
a  series  of  conceptions  of  what  is  finite  and  imperfect. 
The  little  we  can  know  of  God  came  from  reasoning 
about  objects  of  sense.  Its  notion  of  God  is  deduced 
purely  from  empirical  observation ;  what  notion  of  a 
God  can  rest  legitimately  on  that  basis  ?  Nature  is 
finite  ;  to  infer  an  infinite  author  is  false  logic.  We 
see  but  in  part,  and  have  not  grasped  up  this  sum  of 
things,  nor  seen  how  seeming  evil  consists  with  real 
good,  nor  accounted  for  the  great  amount  of  misery, 
apparently  unliquidated,  in  the  world  ;  therefore  nature 
is  imperfect  to  men's  eyes.  Why  infer  a  perfect  author 
from  an  imperfect  work  ?  Injustice  and  cruelty  are 
allowed  in  the  world.  How  then  can  its  Maker  be  re- 
lied on  as  just  and  merciful  ?  Let  there  be  nothing  in 
the  conclusion  which  is  not  in  the  premises. 

This  theory  gives  us  only  a  finite  and  imperfect  God, 
which  is  no  God  at  all.  He  cannot  be  trusted  out  of 
sight;  for  its  faith  is  only  an  inference  from  what  is 
seen.  Instead  of  a  religious  sentiment  in  man,  which 
craves  all  the  perfections  of  the  Godhead,  reaches  out 
after  the  infinite  ''  first  good,  first  perfect,  and  first  fair," 
it  gives  us  only  a  tendency  to  reverence  or  fear  what  is 
superior  to  ourselves,  and  above  our  comprehension, — 
a  tendency  which  the  bat  and  the  owl  have  in  common 
with  Socrates  and  Fenelon.  It  makes  a  man  the  slave 
of  his  organization.  Free-will  is  not  possible.  His 
highest  aim  is  self-preservation ;  his  greatest  evil  death. 
It  denies  the  immortality  of  man,  and  foolishly  asks 
"proofs"  of  the  fact,  —  meaning  proofs  palpable  to  the 
senses.  Its  finite  God  is  not  to  be  trusted,  except  under 
his  bond  and  covenant  to  give  us  what  we  ask  for. 

It  makes  no  difference  between  good  and  evil ;  expedi- 
ent and  inexpedient  are  the  better  words.     These  are  to 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  33 

be  learned  only  by  long  study  and  much  cunning.  All 
men  have  not  the  requisite  skill  to  find  out  moral  and 
religious  doctrines,  and  no  means  of  proving  either  in 
their  own  heart ;  therefore  they  must  take  the  word  of 
their  appointed  teachers  and  philosophers,  who  "  have 
investigated  the  matter  ; "  found  there  is  "  an  expedient 
way  "  for  men  to  follow,  and  a  "  God  "  to  punish  them  if 
they  do  not  follow  it.  In  moral  and  religious  matters 
the  mass  of  men  must  rely  on  the  authority  of  their 
teachers.  Millions  of  men,  who  never  made  an  astro- 
nomical observation,  believe  the  distance  between  the 
earth  Und  the  sun  is  what  Newton  or  Laplace  declares 
it  to  be.  Why  should  not  men  take  moral  and  religious 
doctrines  on  the  same  evidence  ?  It  is  true,  astronomers 
have  differed  a  little,  —  some  making  the  earth  the 
centre,  some  the  sun,  —  and  divines  still  more.  But 
men  must  learn  the  moral  law  as  the  statute  law.  The 
State  is  above  each  man's  private  notions  about  good 
and  evil,  and  controls  these,  as  well  as  their  passions. 
Man  must  act  always  from  mean  and  selfish  views,  never 
from  love  of  the  good,  the  beautiful,  the  true. 

This  system  would  have  religious  forms  and  cere- 
monies to  take  up  the  mind  of  the  people ;  moral  pre- 
cepts, and  religious  creeds,  "  published  by  authority,"  to 
keep  men  from  unprofitable  crimes ;  an  established 
church,  like  the  jail  and  the  gallows,  a  piece  of  State- 
machinery.  It  is  logical  in  this,  for  it  fears  that  without 
such  a  provision  the  sensual  nature  would  overlay  the 
intellectual ;  the  few  religious  ideas  common  men  could 
get,  would  be  so  shadowy  and  uncertain,  and  men  be  so 
blinded  by  prejudice,  superstition,  and  fancy,  or  so  far 
misled  by  passion  and  ignorant  selfishness,  that  nothing 
but  want  and  anarchy  would  ensue.  It  tells  men  to 
pray.     None  can  escape  the  conviction  that  prayer,  vocal 

3 


34  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

or  silent,  put  up  as  a  request,  or  felt  as  a  sense  of  suppli- 
cation, is  natural  as  hunger  and  thirst,  or  tears  and 
smiles.  Even  a  self-stjled  atheist  ^  talks  of  the  important 
physiological  functions  of  prayer.  This  theory  makes 
prayer  a  soliloquy  of  the  man,  a  thinking  with  the  upper 
part  of  the  head,  a  sort  of  moral  gymnastics.  Thereby 
we  get  nothing  from  God.  He  is  the  other  side  of  the 
world.  "  He  is  a  journeying,  or  pursuing,  or  peradren- 
ture  he  sleepeth."  Prayer  is  useful  to  the  worshipper  as 
the  poet's  frenzy,  when  he  apostrophizes  a  mountain  or 
the  moon,  and  works  himself  into  a  rapture,  but  gets 
nothing  from  the  mountain  or  the  moon  except  what  he 
carried  out.  In  a  word,  this  theory  reduces  the  idea  of 
God  to  that  of  an  abstract  cause,  and  excludes  this  cause 
both  from  man  and  the  world.  It  has  only  a  finite  God, 
which  is  no  God  at  all,  for  the  two  terms  cancel  each 
other.  It  has  only  a  selfish  morality,  which  is  no 
morality  at  all,  for  the  same  reason.  It  reduces  the  soul 
to  the  aggregate  functions  of  the  flesh ;  providence  to  a 
law  of  matter ;  infinity  to  a  dream ;  religion  to  priest- 
craft ;  prayer  to  an  apostrophe  ;  morality  to  making  a 
good  bargain ;  conscience  to  cunning ;  it  denies  the 
possibility  of  any  connection  between  God  and  man. 
Revelation  and  inspiration  it  regards  as  figures  of  speech, 
by  which  we  refer  to  an  agency  purely  ideal  what  was 
the  result  of  the  senses,  and  matter  acting  thereon.  Men 
calling  themselves  inspired,  speaking  in  the  name  of 
God,  were  deceivers  or  deceived.  Prophets,  the  religi- 
ous geniuses  of  the  world,  mistook  their  fancies  for 
revelation,  embraced  a  cloud  instead  of  a  goddess,  and 
produced  only  misshapen  dreams.  Judged  by  this  sys- 
tem, Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  a  pure-minded  fanatic,  who 
knew  no  more  about  God  than  Peter  Bayle  and  Pompon- 

1  M.  Comte. 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  35 

atius,  but  3'ct  did  the  world  service,  by  teaching  the 
result  of  his  own  or  others'  experience,  as  revelations 
from  God  accompanied  with  the  promise  of  another 
life ;  which  is  reckoned  a  pleasant  delusion,  useful  to 
keep  men  out  of  crime,  —  a  clever  auxiliary  of  the  powers 
that  be. 

This  system  has  perhaps  never  been  held  in  all  its 
parts  by  any  one  man,  but  each  portion  has  often  been 
defended,  and  all  its  parts  go  together  and  come  unavoid- 
ably from  that  notion,  that  there  is  nothing  in  man  which 
was  not  first  in  the  senses.  The  best  representatives  of 
this  school  were,  it  may  be,  the  French  materialists  of 
the  last  century,  and  some  of  the  English  deists.  The 
latter  term  is  applied  to  men  of  the  most  various  charac- 
ter and  ways  of  thinking.  Some  of  them  were  most 
excellent  men  in  all  respects,  —  men  who  did  mankind 
great  service  by  exposing  the  fanaticism  of  the  super- 
stitious, and  by  showing  the  absurdities  embraced  by 
many  of  the  Christians.  Some  of  them  were  much  more 
religious  and  heavenly-minded  than  their  opponents,  and 
had  a  theology  much  more  Christian,  which  called  good- 
ness by  its  proj)er  name,  and  worshipped  God  in  lowli- 
ness of  heart,  and  a  divine  life.  But  the  spirit  of  this 
system  takes  different  forms  in  different  men.  It  appears 
in  the  cold  morality  and  repulsive  forms  of  religion  of 
Dr.  Priestley,  who  was  yet  one  of  the  Ijcst  of  men ;  in 
the  scepticism  of  Hume  and  his  followers,  which  has 
been  a  useful  medicine  to  the  Church ;  in  the  selfish 
system  of  Paley,  far  more  dangerous  than  the  doubts  of 
Hume  or  the  scoffs  of  Gibbon  and  Voltaire  ;  in  the 
coarse,  vulgar  materialism  of  Hobbes,  who  may  be  taken 
as  one  of  the  best  representatives  of  the  system. 

It  is  obvious  enough  that  this  system  of  naturalism  is 
the  philosophy  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  popular 


36  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

theology  in  New  England ;  that  it  is  very  little  under- 
stood by  the  men,  out  of  pulpits  and  in  pulpits,  who 
adhere  to  it ;  who,  while  they  hold  fast  to  the  theory  of 
the  worst  of  the  English  deists,  though  of  only  the 
worst,  —  while  they  deny  the  immanence  of  God  in  matter 
and  man,  and  therefore  take  away  the  possibility  of 
natural  inspiration,  and  cling  to  that  system  of  phi- 
losophy which  justifies  the  doubt  of  Hume,  the  selfishness 
of  Paley,  the  coarse  materialism  of  Hobbes,  —  are  yet 
ashamed  of  their  descent,  and  seek  to  point  out  others, 
of  a  quite  different  spiritual  complexion,  as  the  lineal 
descendants  of  that  ancient  stock. 

This  system  has  one  negative  merit.  It  can,  as  such, 
never  lead  to  fanaticism.  Those  sects  or  individuals 
who  approach  most  nearly  to  pure  naturalism  have 
never  been  accused,  in  religious  matters,  of  going  too 
fast  or  too  far.  But  it  has  a  positive  excellence  ;  it 
lays  great  stress  on  the  human  mind,  and  cultivates  the 
understanding  to  the  last  degree.  However,  its  philoso- 
phy, its  theology,  its  worship,  are  of  the  senses,  and  the 
senses  alone. 

Supernaturalism  differs  in  many  respects  from  the 
other  system ;  but  its  philosophy  is  at  bottom  the  same. 
It  denies  that  by  natural  action  there  can  be  anything 
in  man  which  was  not  first  in  the  senses ;  whatever 
transcends  the  senses  can  come  to  him  only  by  a  miracle. 
And  the  miracle  is  attended  with  phenomena  obvious  to 
the  senses.  To  develop  the  natural  side  of  the  theory,  it 
sets  God  on  the  one  side  and  man  on  the  other.  How- 
ever, it  admits  the  immanence  of  God  in  matter,  and 
talks  very  little  about  the  laws  of  matter,  which  it  thinks 
require  revision,  amendment,  and  even  repeal,  —  as  if  the 
nature  of  things  changed,  or  God  grew  wiser  by  experi- 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  37 

ment.  It  does  not  see  that  if  God  is  always  the  same, 
and  immanent  in  nature,  the  laws  of  nature  can  neither 
change  nor  be  changed.  It  limits  the  power  of  man  still 
further  than  the  former  theory.  It  denies  that  he  can, 
of  himself,  discover  the  existence  of  God,  or  find  out 
that  it  is  better  to  love  his  brother  than  to  hate  him,  — 
to  subject  the  passions  to  reason,  desire  to  duty,  rather 
than  to  subject  reason  to  passion,  duty  to  desire.  Man 
can  find  out  all  that  is  needed  for  his  animal  and  intel- 
lectual welfare  with  no  miracle,  but  can  learn  nothing 
that  is  needed  for  his  moral  and  religious  welfare.  He 
can  invent  the  steam  engine,  and  calculate  the  orbit  of 
Halley's  comet;  but  cannot  tell  good  from  evil,  nor 
determine  that  there  is  a  God.  The  unnecessary  is 
given  him,  the  indispensable  he  cannot  get  by  nature. 
Man,  therefore,  is  the  veriest  wretch  in  creation.  His 
mind  forces  him  to  inquire  on  religious  matters,  but 
brings  him  into  doubt,  and  leaves  him  in  the  very  slough 
of  despond.  He  goes  up  and  down  sorrowing,  seeking 
rest  but  finding  none.  Nay;  it  goes  further  still,  and 
declares  that,  by  nature,  all  men's  actions  are  sin,  hate- 
ful to  God. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  teaches  that  God  works  a  miracle 
from  time  to  time,  and  makes  to  men  a  positive  revela- 
tion of  moral  and  religious  truth,  which  they  could  not 
otherwise  gain.  Its  history  of  revelations  is  this :  God 
revealed  his  own  existence  in  a  visible  form  to  the  first 
man  ;  taught  him  religious  and  moral  duties  by  words 
orally  spoken.  The  first  man  communicated  this  knowl- 
edge to  his  descendants,  from  whom  the  tradition  of  the 
fact  has  spread  over  all  the  world.  Men  know  there  is 
a  God,  and  a  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  only 
b}-  hearsay,  as  they  know  there  was  a  flood  in  the  time 
of  Noah,  or  Deucalion.     The  first  man  sinned,  and  fell 


38  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

from  the  state  of  frequent  communion  with  God.  Reve- 
lations have  since  become  rare, —  exceptions  in  the  historic 
of  men.  However,  as  man  having  no  connection  with 
the  Infinite  must  soon  perish,  God  continued  to  make 
miraculous  revelations  to  one  single  people.  To  them 
he  gave  laws,  religious  and  civil,  made  predictions,  and 
accompanied  each  revelation  by  some  miraculous  sign; 
for  without  it  none  could  distinguish  the  truth  from  a 
lie.  Other  nations  received  reflections  of  this  light 
which  was  directly  imparted  to  the  favored  people.  At 
length  he  made  a  revelation  of  all  religious  and  moral 
truth,- by  means  of  his  Son,  a  divine  and  miraculous 
being,  both  God  and  man,  and  confirmed  the  tidings  by 
miracles  the  most  surprising.  As  this  revelation  is  to 
last  for  ever,  it  has  been  recorded  miraculously,  and  pre- 
served for  all  coming  time.  The  persons  who  received 
direct  communication  miraculously  from  God  are  of 
course  mediators  between  Him  and  the  human  race. 

Now,  to  live  as  religious  men,  we  must  have  a  knowl- 
edge of  religious  truth ;  for  this  we  must  depend  alone 
on  these  mediators  ;  without  them  we  have  no  access 
to  God.  They  have  established  a  new  relation  between 
man  and  God.  But  they  are  mortal,  and  have  deceased. 
However,  their  sayings  are  recorded  by  miraculous  aid. 
A  knowledge  of  God's  will,  of  morality  and  religion, 
therefore,  is  only  to  be  got  at  by  studying  the  documents 
which  contain  a  record  of  their  words  and  works  ;  for  the 
word  of  God  has  become  the  letter  of  Scripture.  We 
can  know  nothing  of  God,  religion,  or  morals  at  first 
hand.  God  was  but  transiently  present  in  a  small 
num1)cr  of  the  race,  and  has  now  left  it  altogether. 

This  theory  forgets  that  a  verbal  revelation  can  never 
communicate  a  simple  idea,  like  that  of  God,  justice, 
love,  religion,  more  than  a  word  can  give  a  deaf  man  an 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  39 

idea  of  sound.  It  makes  inspiration  a  very  rare  miracle, 
confined  to  one  nation,  and  to  some  scores  of  men  in 
that  nation,  who  stand  between  us  and  God.  We  cannot 
pray  in  our  own  name,  but  in  that  of  the  mediator,  who 
hears  the  prayer,  and  makes  intercession  for  us.  It 
exalts  certain  miraculous  persons,  but  degrades  man. 
In  prophets  and  saints,  in  Moses  and  Jesus,  it  docs  not 
see  the  possibility  of  the  race  made  real,  but  only  tlie 
miraculous  work  of  God.  Our  duty  is  not  to  inquire 
into,  the  truth  of  their  word.  Reason  is  no  judge  of 
that.  We  must  put  faith  in  all  which  all  of  them  tell 
us,  though  they  contradict  each  other  never  so  often. 
Thus  it  makes  an  antithesis  between  faith  and  knowl- 
edge, reason  and  revelation.  It  denies  that  common 
men,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  can  get  at  truth  and 
God,  as  Paul  and  John  in  the  first  century.  It  sacri- 
fices reason,  conscience,  and  love  to  the  words  of  the 
miraculous  men,  and  thus  makes  its  mediator  a  tyrant, 
who  rules  over  the  soul  by  external  authority,  restricting 
reason,  conscience,  and  love,  —  not  a  brother,  who  acts  in 
the  soul,  by  waking  its  dormant  powers,  disclosing  truth, 
and  leading  others  by  a  divine  life  to  God,  the  source  of 
light.  It  says  the  words  of  Jesus  are  true  because  he 
spoke  them,  —  not  that  he  spoke  them  because  true.  It 
relics  entirely  on  past  times ;  does  not  give  us  the  abso- 
lute religion,  as  it  exists  in  man's  nature  and  the  ideas 
of  the  Almighty,  only  an  historical  mode  of  worship,  as 
lived  out  here  or  there.  It  says  the  canon  of  revelation 
is  closed  ;  God  will  no  longer  act  on  men  as  heretofore. 
We  have  come  at  the  end  of  the  feast ;  are  born  in  the 
latter  days  and  dotage  of  mankind,  and  can  only  get 
light  by  raking  amid  the  ashes  of  the  past,  and  blowing 
its  brands  now  almost  extinct.  It  denies  that  God  is 
present  and  active  in  all  spirit  as  in  all  space ;  thus  it 


40  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

denies  that  he  is  infinite.  In  the  miraculous  documents 
it  gives  us  an  objective  standard,  "  the  only  infallible  rule 
of  religious  faith  and  practice."  These  mediators  are 
greater  than  the  soul ;  the  Bible  the  master  of  reason, 
conscience,  and  the  religious  sentiment.  They  stand  in 
the  place  of  God. 

Men  ask  of  this  system :  How  do  you  know  there  is  in 
man  nothing  but  the  product  of  sensation,  or  miraculous 
tradition  ;  that  he  cannot  approach  God  except  by  mira- 
cle; that  these  mediators  received  truth  miraculously, 
taught  all  truth,  nothing  but  the  truth  ;  that  you  have 
their  words  pure  and  unmixed  in  your  scriptures ;  that 
God  has  no  further  revelation  to  make  ?  The  answer 
is :  We  find  it  convenient  to  assume  all  this,  and  accord- 
ingly have  banished  reason  from  the  premises,  for  she 
asked  troublesome  questions.  We  condescend  to  no 
proof  of  the  facts.  You  must  take  our  word  for  that. 
Thus  the  main  doctrines  of  the  theory  rest  on  assump- 
tions, on  no-facts. 

This  system  represents  the  despair  of  man  groping 
after  God.  The  religious  element  acts,  but  is  crippled 
by  a  philosophy  poor  and  sensual.  Is  man  nothing  but 
a  combination  of  five  senses,  and  a  thinking  machine  to 
grind  up  and  bolter  sensations,  and  learn  of  God  only  by 
hearsay  ?  The  God  of  supernaturalism  is  a  God  afar  off ; 
its  religion  worn  out  and  second-hand.  We  cannot  meet 
God  face  to  face.  In  one  respect  it  is  worse  than  natur- 
alism; that  sets  great  value  on  the  faculties  of  man, 
which  this  depreciates  and  profanes.  But  all  systems 
rest  on  a  truth,  or  they  could  not  be;  this  on  a  great 
truth,  or  it  could  not  prevail  widely.  It  admits  a  quali- 
fied immanence  of  God  in  nature,  and  declares,  also, 
that  mankind  is  dependent  on  him  for  religious  and 
moral  truth  as  for  all  things  else, —  has  a  connection  with 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  41 

God,  who  really  guides,  educates,  and  blesses  the  race, 
for  he  is  transiently  present  therein.  The  doctrine  of 
miraculous  events,  births,  persons,  deaths,  and  the  like, 
this  is  the  veil  of  poetry  drawn  over  the  face  of  fact. 
It  has  a  truth  not  admitted  by  naturalism.  As  only  a 
few  "  thinking  "  men  even  in  fancy  can  be  satisfied  with- 
out a  connection  with  God,  so  naturalism  is  always 
confined  to  a  few  reflective  and  cultivated  persons ; 
while  the  mass  of  men  believe  in  the  supernatural 
theory,  at  least,  in  the  truth  it  covers  up.  Its  truth  is 
of  great  moment.  Its  vice  is  to  make  God  transiently 
active  in  man,  not  immanent  in  him, — restrict  the  divine 
presence  and  action  to  times,  places,  and  persons.  It 
overlooks  the  fact  that  if  religious  truth  be  necessary 
for  all,  then  it  must  either  have  been  provided  for  and 
put  in  the  reach  of  all,  or  else  there  is  a  fault  in  the 
divine  plan.  Then  again,  if  God  gives  a  natural  supply 
for  the  lower  wants,  it  is  probable,  to  say  the  least,  he 
will  not  neglect  the  higher.  Now,  for  the  religious  con- 
sciousness of  man  a  knowledge  of  two  great  truths  is 
indispensable :  namely,  a  knowledge  of  the  existence  of 
the  infinite  God,  and  of  the  duty  we  owe  to  him ;  for  a 
knowledge  of  these  two  is  implied  in  all  religious  teach- 
ing and  life.  Now  one  of  two  things  must  be  admitted, 
and  a  third  is  not  possible :  either  man  can  discover 
these  two  things  by  the  light  of  nature,  or  he  cannot.  If 
the  latter  be  the  case,  then  is  he  the  most  hopeless  of  all 
beings.  Revelation  of  these  truths  is  confined  to  a  few ; 
it  is  indispensably  necessary  to  all.  Accordingly,  the 
first  hypothesis  is  generally  admitted  by  the  supernatu- 
ralists  in  New  England,  though  in  spite  of  their  philoso- 
phy,—  that  these  two  things  can  be  discovered  by  the 
light  of  nature.  Then  if  the  two  main  points,  the  prem- 
ises which  involve  the  whole  of  morals  and  religion,  lie 


42  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

within  the  reach  of  man's  natural  powers,  how  is  a  mir- 
acle, or  the  tradition  of  a  miracle,  necessary  to  reveal  the 
minor  doctrines  involved  in  the  universal  truth  ?  Does 
not  the  faculty  to  discern  the  greater  include  the  faculty  to 
discern  the  less  ?  What  covers  an  acre  will  cover  a  yard. 
Where,  then,  is  the  use  of  the  miraculous  interposition  ? 
Neither  naturalism  nor  supernaturalism  legitimates 
the  fact  of  man's  religious  consciousness.  Both  fail  of 
satisfying  the  natural  religious  wants  of  the  race.  Each 
has  merits  and  vices  of  its  own.  Neither  gives  for  the 
soul's  wants  a  supply  analogous  to  that  so  bountifully 
provided  for  the  wants  of  the  body  or  the  mind. 

Spiritualism  teaches  that  there  is  a  natural  supply  for 
spiritual  as  well  as  for  corporeal  wants ;  that  there  is  a 
connection  between  God  and  the  soul,  as  between  light 
and  the  eye,  sound  and  the  ear,  food  and  the  palate,  truth 
and  the  intellect,  beauty  and  the  imagination ;  that  as 
we  follow  an  instinctive  tendency,  obey  the  body's  law, 
get  a  natural  supply  for  its  wants,  attain  health  and 
strength,  the  body's  welfare ;  as  we  keep  the  law  of  the 
mind,  and  get  a  supply  for  its  wants,  attain  wisdom  and 
skill,  the  mind's  welfare,  —  so  if,  following  another  in- 
stinctive tendency,  we  keep  the  law  of  the  moral  and 
religious  faculties,  we  get  a  supply  for  their  wants,  moral 
and  religious  truth,  obtain  peace  of  conscience  and  rest 
for  the  soul,  the  highest  moral  and  religious  welfare.  It 
teaches  that  the  world  is  not  nearer  to  our  bodies  than 
God  to  the  soul ;  "  for  in  him  we  live  and  move,  and 
have  our  being."  As  we  have  bodily  senses  to  lay  hold 
on  matter  and  supply  bodily  wants,  through  which  we 
obtain  naturally  all  needed  material  things,  so  we  have 
spiritual  faculties  to  lay  hold  on  God,  and  supply  spiritual 
wants;  through   them   we   obtain  all   needed   spiritual 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  43 

things.  As  we  observe  the  conditions  of  the  body,  we 
have  nature  on  our  side ;  as  we  observe  the  hxw  of  the 
soul,  we  have  God  on  our  side.  He  imparts  truth  to  all 
men  who  observe  these  conditions  ;  we  have  direct  access 
to  Him,  through  reason,  conscience,  and  the  religious 
faculty,  just  as  we  have  direct  access  to  nature,  through 
the  eye,  the  ear,  or  the  hand.  Through  these  channels, 
and  by  means  of  a  law,  certain,  regular,  and  universal 
as  gravitation,  God  inspires  men,  makes  revelation  of 
truth  ;  for  is  not  truth  as  much  a  phenomenon  of  God 
as  motion  of  matter  ?  Therefore,  if  God  be  omnipresent 
and  omniactive,  this  inspiration  is  no  miracle,  but  a 
regular  mode  of  God's  action  on  conscious  spirit,  as 
gravitation  on  unconscious  matter.  It  is  not  a  rare  con- 
descension of  God,  but  a  universal  uplifting  of  man.  To 
obtain  a  knowledge  of  duty,  a  man  is  not  sent  away  out- 
side of  himself  to  ancient  documents  for  the  only  rule  of 
faith  and  practice ;  the  word  is  very  nigh  him,  even  in 
his  heart,  and  by  this  word  he  is  to  try  all  documents 
whatever.  Inspiration,  like  God's  omnipresence,  is  not 
limited  to  the  few  writers  claimed  by  the  Jews,  Chris- 
tians, or  Mahometans,  but  is  co-extensive  with  the  race. 
As  God  fills  all  space,  so  all  spirit ;  as  he  influences  and 
constrains  unconscious  and  necessitated  matter,  so  he 
inspires  and  helps  free  and  conscious  man. 

This  theory  does  not  make  God  limited,  partial,  or 
capricious.  It  exalts  man.  While  it  honors  the  excel- 
lence of  a  religious  genius, —  of  a  Moses  or  a  Jesus,  —  it 
does  not  pronounce  their  character  monstrous,  as  the 
supernatural,  nor  fanatical,  as  the  rationalistic  theory ; 
but  natural,  human,  and  beautiful,  revealing  the  possi- 
bility of  mankind.  Prayer — whether  voluntative  or  spon- 
taneous, a  word  or  a  feeling,  felt  in  gratitude  or  penitence 
or  joy  or  resignation  —  is  not  a  soliloquy  of  the  man,  not 


44  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

a  physiological  function,  nor  an  address  to  a  deceased 
man,  but  a  sally  into  the  infinite  spiritual  world,  whence 
we  bring  back  light  and  truth.  There  are  windows 
towards  God,  as  towards  the  world.  There  is  no  inter- 
cessor, angel,  mediator  between  man  and  God  ;  for  man 
can  speak  and  God  hear,  each  for  himself.  He  requires 
no  advocate  to  plead  for  men,  who  need  not  pray  by 
attorney.  Each  man  stands  close  to  the  omnipresent 
God  ;  may  feel  his  beautiful  presence,  and  have  familiar 
access  to  the  All-Father,  —  get  truth  at  first  hand  from 
its  Author.  Wisdom,  righteousness,  and  love  are  the 
spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man  ;  wherever  these  are, 
and  just  in  proportion  to  their  power,  there  is  inspira- 
tion from  God.  Thus  God  is  not  the  author  of  confu- 
sion, but  concord  ;  faith,  and  knowledge,  and  revelation, 
and  reason  tell  the  same  tale,  and  so  legitimate  and  con- 
firm one  another, 

God's  action  on  matter  and  on  man  is  perhaps  the 
same  thing  to  him,  though  it  appear  differently  modi- 
fied to  us.  But  it  is  plain  from  the  nature  of  things 
that  there  can  be  but  one  kind  of  inspiration,  as  of 
truth,  faith,  or  love  ;  it  is  the  direct  and  intuitive  per- 
ception of  some  truth  either  of  thought  or  of  sentiment. 
There  can  be  but  one  mode  of  inspiration  ;  it  is  the 
action  of  the  Highest  within  the  soul,  —  the  divine  pres- 
ence imparting  light ;  this  presence  as  truth,  justice, 
holiness,  love,  infusing  itself  into  the  soul,  giving  it  new 
life  ;  the  breathing  in  of  the  Deity,  the  in-come  of  God 
to  the  soul,  in  the  form  of  truth  through  the  reason,  of 
right  through  the  conscience,  of  love  and  faith  through 
the  affections  and  religious  element.  Is  inspiration 
confined  to  theological  matters  alone  ?  Most  surely 
not.     Is  Newton  less  inspired  than  Simon  Peter  ? 

Now,   if   the   above  views   be  true,   there    seems   no 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  45 

ground  for  supposing,  without  historical  proof,  there  are 
different  kinds  or  modes  of  inspiration  in  different  per- 
sons, nations,  or  ages,  —  in  Minos  or  Moses,  in  Gentiles 
or  Jews,  in  the  first  century  or  the  last.  If  God  be 
infinitely  perfect,  he  does  not  change  ;  then  his  modes 
of  action  are  perfect  and  unchangeable.  The  laws  of 
mind,  like  those  of  matter,  remain  immutable  and  not 
transcended.  As  God  has  left  no  age  nor  man  destitute 
by  nature,  of  reason,  conscience,  affection,  soul,  so  he 
leaves  none  destitute  of  inspiration.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
light  of  all  our  being  ;  the  background  of  all  human 
faculties  ;  the  sole  means  by  which  we  gain  a  knowledge 
of  what  is  not  seen  and  felt ;  the  logical  condition  of  all 
sensual  knowledge  ;  our  highway  to  the  world  of  spirit. 
Man  cannot,  more  than  matter,  exist  without  God.  In- 
spiration, then,  like  vision,  must  be  everywhere  the  same 
thing  in  kind,  however  it  differs  in  degree,  from  race  to 
race,  from  man  to  man.  The  degree  of  inspiration  must 
depend  on  two  things,  —  first,  on  the  natural  ability,  the 
particular  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  endowment 
or  genius  wherewith  each  man  is  furnished  by  God ;  and 
next,  on  the  use  each  man  makes  of  this  endowment. 
In  one  word,  it  depends  on  the  man's  quantity  of  being 
and  his  quantity  of  obedience.  Now,  as  men  differ 
widely  in  their  natural  endowments,  and  much  more 
widely  in  the  use  and  development  thereof,  there  must 
of  course  be  various  degrees  of  inspiration,  from  tlie 
lowest  sinner  up  to  the  highest  saint.  All  men  are  not 
by  birth  capable  of  the  same  degree  of  inspiration  ;  and 
by  culture  and  acquired  character  they  are  still  less 
capable  of  it.  A  man  of  noble  intellect,  of  deep,  rich, 
benevolent  affections,  is  by  his  endowments  capable  of 
more  than  one  less  gifted.  He  that  perfectly  keeps  the 
soul's  law,  thus  fulfilling  the  conditions  of  inspiration, 


46  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

has  more  than  he  who  keeps  it  imperfectly  :  the  former 
must  receive  all  his  soul  can  contain  at  that  stage  of  his 
growth.  Thus  it  depends  on  a  man's  own  will  in  great 
measure,  to  what  extent  he  will  be  inspired.  The  man 
of  humble  gifts,  at  first,  by  faithful  obedience  may  attain 
a  greater  degree  than  one  of  larger  outfit  who  neglects 
his  talent.  The  Apostles  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the 
true  saints  of  all  countries,  are  proofs  of  this.  Inspira- 
tion, then,  is  the  consequence  of  a  faithful  use  of  our 
faculties.  Each  man  is  its  subject,  God  its  source,  truth 
its  only  test.  But  as  truth  appears  in  various  modes  to 
us,  higher  and  lower,  and  may  be  superficially  divided, 
according  to  our  faculties,  into  truths  of  the  senses,  of 
the  understanding,  of  reason,  of  conscience,  of  the  affec- 
tions and  the  soul,  —  so  the  perception  of  truth  in  the 
highest  mode,  that  of  reason,  morals,  philanthropy,  reli- 
gion, is  the  highest  inspiration.  He,  then,  that  has  the 
most  of  wisdom,  goodness,  religion,  —  the  most  of  truth 
in  the  highest  modes,  —  is  the  most  inspired. 

Now,  universal,  infallible  inspiration  can  of  course 
only  be  the  attendant  and  result  of  a  perfect  fulfilment 
of  all  the  laws  of  mind,  of  the  moral,  affectional,  and 
religious  nature  ;  and  as  each  man's  faculties  are  lim- 
ited, it  is  not  possible  to  men.  A  foolish  man,  as  such, 
cannot  be  inspired  to  reveal  wisdom,  nor  a  wicked  man 
to  reveal  virtue,  nor  an  impious  man  to  reveal  religion. 
Unto  him  that  hath  more  is  given.  The  poet  reveals 
poetry,  the  artist  art,  the  philosopher  science,  the  saint 
religion.  The  greater,  purer,  loftier,  more  complete  the 
character,  so  is  the  inspiration  ;  for  he  that  is  true  to 
conscience,  faithful  to  reason,  obedient  to  religion,  has 
not  only  the  strength  of  his  own  virtue,  wisdom,  and 
piety,  but  the  whole  strength  of  Omnipotence  on  his 
side  ;  for  goodness,  truth,  and  love,  as  we  conceive  them, 


NATURALISM— SPIRITUALISM.  47 

are  not  one  thing  in  man  and  another  in  God,  but  the 
same  thing  in  each.  Thus  man  partakes  the  divine 
nature,  as  the  Platonists,  Christians,  and  Mystics  call  it. 
By  these  means  the  soul  of  all  flows  into  the  man ; 
what  is  private,  personal,  peculiar,  ebbs  off  before  that 
mighty  influx  from  on  high.  What  is  universal,  abso- 
lute, true,  speaks  out  of  his  lips, —  in  rude,  homely  utter- 
ance, it  may  be,  or  in  words  that  burn  and  sparkle  like 
the  lightning's  fiery  flash. 

This  inspiration  reveals  itself  in  various  forms,  mod- 
ified by  the  country,  character,  education,  peculiarity  of 
him  who  receives  it,  just  as  water  takes  the  form  and 
the  color  of  the  cup  into  which  it  flows,  and  must  needs 
mingle  with  the  impurities  it  chances  to  meet.  Thus 
Minos  and  Moses  were  inspired  to  make  laws  ;  David  to 
pour  out  his  soul  in  pious  strains,  deep  and  sweet  as  an 
angel's  psaltery  ;  Pindar  to  celebrate  virtuous  deeds  in 
high,  heroic  song  ;  John  the  Baptist  to  denounce  sin ; 
Gerson,  and  Luther,  and  Bohme,  and  Fcnelon,  and  Fox, 
to  do  each  his  peculiar  work,  and  stir  the  world's  heart 
deep,  very  deep.  Plato  and  Newton,  Milton  and  Isaiah, 
Leibnitz  and  Paul,  Mozart,  Raphael,  Phidias,  Praxiteles, 
Orpheus,  receive  into  their  various  forms  the  one  spirit 
from  God  most  high.  It  appears  in  action  not  less  than 
speech.  The  Spirit  inspires  Dorcas  to  make  coats  and 
garments  for  the  poor,  no  less  than  Paul  to  preach  the 
gospel.  As  that  bold  man  himself  has  said,  "  There  are 
diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  spirit;  diversities  of 
operations,  but  the  same  God,  who  worketh  all  in  all."  ^ 
In  one  man  it  may  appear  in  the  iron  hardness  of  reason- 
ing, which  breaks  through  sophistry  and  prejudice,  the 
rubbish  and  diluvial  drift  of  time.  In  another  it  is  sub- 
dued and  softened  by  the  flame  of  affection  ;  the  hard 

^  1  Cor.  xii.  4,  et  scq. 


48  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

iron  of  the  man  is  melted,  and  becomes  a  stream  of  per- 
suasion, sparkling  as  it  runs. 

Inspiration  does  not  destroy  the  man's  freedom ;  that 
is  left  fetterless  by  obedience.  It  does  not  reduce  all  to 
one  uniform  standard;  but  Habakkuk  speaks  in  his 
own  way,  and  Hugh  de  St.  Victor  in  his.  The  man  can 
obey  or  not  obey,  can  quench  the  spirit  or  feed  it,  as  he 
will.  Thus  Jonah  flees  from  his  duty ;  Calchas  will  not 
tell  the  truth  till  out  of  danger  ;  Peter  dissembles  and 
lies.  Each  of  these  men  had  schemes  of  his  own,  which 
he  would  carry  out,  God  willing  or  not  willing.  But 
when  the  sincere  man  receives  the  truth  of  God  into  his 
soul,  knowing  it  is  God's  truth,  then  it  takes  such  a 
hold  of  him  as  nothing  else  can  do.  It  makes  the  weak 
strong,  the  timid  brave  ;  men  of  slow  tongue  become 
full  of  power  and  persuasion.  There  is  a  new  soul  in 
the  man,  which  takes  him  as  it  were  by  the  hair  of  his 
head,  and  sets  him  down  where  the  idea  he  wishes  for 
demands.  It  takes  the  man  away  from  the  hall  of  com- 
fort, the  society  of  his  friends, — makes  him  austere  and 
lonely ;  cruel  to  himself,  if  need  be  ;  sleepless  in  his 
vigilance,  unfaltering  in  his  toil ;  never  resting  from  his 
work.  It  takes  the  rose  out  of  the  cheek,  turns  the 
man  in  on  himself,  and  gives  him  more  of  truth.  Then, 
in  a  poetic  fancy,  the  man  sees  visions,  has  wondrous 
revelations ;  every  mountain  thunders ;  God  burns  in 
every  bush,  flames  out  in  the  crimson  cloud,  speaks  in 
the  wind,  descends  with  every  dove,  is  All-in-all.  The 
soul,  deep-wrought  in  its  intense  struggle,  gives  outness 
to  its  thought ;  and  on  the  trees  and  stars,  the  fields, 
the  floods,  the  corn  ripe  for  the  sickle,  on  men  and 
women,  it  sees  its  burden  writ.  The  spirit  within  con- 
strains the  man.  It  is  like  wine  that  hath  no  vent.  He 
is  full  of  the  God.     While  he  muses  the  fire  burns  ;  his 


NA  TURA LISM  —  SPIRIT U A LISM.  49 

bosom  will  scarce  hold  his  heart.  He  must  speak  or  he 
dies,  though  the  earth  quake  at  his  word.^  Timid  flesh 
may  resist,  and  Moses  say,  "  I  am  of  slow  speech." 
What  avails  that  ?  The  soul  says,  "  Go,  and  I  will  be 
with  thy  mouth,  to  quicken  thy  tardy  tongue."  Shrink- 
ing Jeremiah,  effeminate  and  timid,  recoils  before  the 
fearful  work.  "  The  flesh  will  quiver  when  the  pincers 
tear."  He  says,  "  I  cannot  speak  ;  I  am  a  child."  But 
the  great  Soul  of  All  flows  into  him,  and  says,  "  Say  not 
'  I  am  a  child,'  for  I  am  with  thee.  Gird  up  thy  loins 
like  a  man,  and  speak  all  that  I  command  thee.  Be  not 
afraid  at  men's  faces,  for  I  will  make  thee  a  defenced 
city,  a  column  of  steel  and  walls  of  brass.  Speak,  then, 
against  the  whole  land  of  sinners,  against  the  kings 
thereof,  the  princes  thereof,  its  people,  and  its  priests. 
They  may  fight  against  thee,  but  they  shall  not  prevail ; 
for  I  am  with  thee."  Devils  tempt  the  man  with  the 
terror  of  defeat  and  want,  with  the  hopes  of  selfish 
ambition.  It  avails  nothing ;  a  "  Get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan,"  brings  angels  to  help.  Then  are  the  man's  lips 
touched  with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar  of  truth,  brought 
by  a  seraph's  hand.  He  is  baptized  with  the  spirit  of 
fire.  His  countenance  is  like  lightning.  The  truth 
thunders  from  his  tongue,  —  his  words  eloquent  as  per- 
suasion. No  terror  is  terrible,  no  fear  formidable.  The 
peaceful  is  satisfied  to  be  a  man  of  strife  and  contention, 
—  his  hand  against  every  man,  to  root  up,  and  pluck 
down,  and  destroy  ;  to  build  with  the  sword  in  one  hand 
and  the  trowel  in  the  other.  He  came  to  bring  peace, 
but  he  must  set  a  fire  ;  and  his  soul  is  straitened  till  his 
work  be  done.  Elislia  must  leave  his  oxen  in  the  fur- 
row ;  Amos  desert  his  summer  fruit  and  his  friend  ;  and 
Bohme,  and  Bunyan,  and  Fox,  and  a  thousand  others, — 

^  See  Lucan  ix.  564,  d  seq. 
4 


50  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

stout-hearted  and  God-inspired,  —  must  go  forth  of  their 
errand,  into  the  faithless  world,  to  accept  the  prophet's 
mission,  be  stoned,  hated,  scourged,  slain.  Resistance 
is  nothing  to  these  men.  Over  them  steel  loses  its 
power,  and  public  opprobrium  its  shame  ;  deadly  things 
do  not  harm  them.  They  count  loss  gain,  shame  glory, 
death  triumph.  These  are  the  men  who  move  the  world. 
They  have  an  eye  to  see  its  follies,  a  heart  to  weep  and 
bleed  for  its  sin.  Filled  with  a  soul  wide  as  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  for  ever,  they  pray  great  prayers  for  sinful 
man  ;  the  wild  wail  of  a  brother's  heart  runs  through 
the  saddening  music  of  their  speech.  The  destiny  of 
these  men  is  forecast  in  their  birth.  They  are  doomed 
to  fall  on  evil  times  and  evil  tongues,  come  when  they 
will  come.  The  priest  and  the  Levite  war  with  the 
prophet  and  do  him  to  death.  They  brand  his  name 
with  infamy,  cast  his  unburied  bones  into  the  Gehenna 
of  popular  shame.  John  the  Baptist  must  leave  his 
head  in  a  charger  ;  Socrates  die  the  death  ;  Jesus  be 
nailed  to  his  cross  ;  and  Justin,  John  Huss,  and  Jerome 
of  Prague,  and  millions  of  hearts  stout  as  these,  and  as 
full  of  God,  must  mix  their  last  prayers,  their  admoni- 
tion, and  farewell  blessing,  with  the  crackling  snap  of 
faggots,  the  hiss  of  quivering  flesh,  the  impotent  tears 
of  wife  and  child,  and  the  mad  roar  of  the  exulting 
crowd.  Every  path  where  mortal  feet  now  tread  secure 
has  been  beaten  out  of  the  hard  flint  by  prophets  and 
holy  men,  who  went  before  us,  with  bare  and  bleeding 
feet,  to  smooth  the  way  for  our  reluctant  tread.  It  is 
the  blood  of  prophets  that  softens  the  Alpine  rock. 
Their  bones  are  scattered  in  all  the  high  places  of  man- 
kind. But  God  lays  his  burdens  on  no  \Tilgar  men. 
He  never  leaves  their  souls  a  prey.  He  paints  Elysium 
on  their  dungeon  wall.     In  the  populous  chamber  of 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRl TUALISM.  51 

their  heart  the  hght  of  faith  shines  bright,  and  never 
dies.  For  sucli  as  are  on  the  side  of  God  there  is  no 
cause  to  fear. 

The  influence  of  God  in  nature,  in  its  mechanical, 
vital,  or  instinctive  action,  is  beautiful.  The  shapely 
trees  ;  the  leaves  that  clothe  them  in  loveliness  ;  the 
corn  and  the  cattle  ;  the  dew  and  the  flowers  ;  the  bird, 
the  insect,  moss  and  stone,  fire  and  water,  and  earth  and 
air ;  the  clear  blue  sky  that  folds  the  world  in  its  soft 
embrace  ;  the  light  which  rides  on  swift  pinions,  enchant- 
ing all  it  touches,  reposing.harmless  on  an  infant's  eyelid, 
after  its  long  passage  from  the  other  side  of  the  universe, 
—  all  these  are  noble  and  beautiful ;  they  admonish  while 
they  delight  us,  these  silent  counsellors  and  sovereign 
aids.  But  the  inspiration  of  God  in  man,  when  faithfully 
obeyed,  is  nobler  and  far  more  beautiful.  It  is  not  the 
passive  elegance  of  unconscious  things  which  we  see  re- 
sulting from  man's  voluntary  obedience.  That  might 
well  charm  us  in  Nature;  in  man  we  look  for  more. 
Here  the  beauty  is  intellectual,  the  beauty  of  thought, 
which  comprehends  the  world  and  understands  its  laws ; 
it  is  moral,  the  beauty  of  virtue,  which  overcomes  the 
world  and  lives  by  its  own  laws  ;  it  is  religious  and 
affectional,  the  beauty  of  holiness  and  love,  which  rises 
above  the  world  and  lives  by  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of 
Life.  A  single  good  man,  at  one  with  God,  makes  the 
morning  and  evening  sun  seem  little  and  very  low.  It 
is  a  higher  mode  of  the  divine  power  that  appears  in  him, 
self-conscious  and  self-restrained. 

Now  this  it  seems  is  the  only  kind  of  inspiration  which 
is  possible.  It  is  coextensive  with  the  faithful  use  of 
man's  natural  powers.  Men  may  call  it  miraculous,  but 
nothing  is  more  natural  ;  or  they  may  say  it  is  entirely 
human,  for  it  is  the  result  of  man's  use  of  his  faculties  ; 


52-  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

but  what  is  more  divine  than  wisdom,  justice,  benevo- 
lence, piety  ?  Are  not  these  the  points  in  which  man 
and  God  conjoin  ?  If  He  is  present  and  active  in  spirit, 
such  must  be  the  perfect  result  of  the  action.  No  doubt 
there  is  a  mystery  in  it,  as  in  sensation,  in  all  the  func- 
tions of  man.  But  what  then  ?  As  a  good  man  has 
said,  "  God  worketh  with  us  both  to  will  and  to  do." 
Mind,  conscience,  the  affections,  and  the  soul  mediate 
between  us  and  God,  as  the  senses  between  us  and  mat- 
ter. Is  one  more  surprising  than  the  other  ?  Is  the  one 
to  be  condemned  as  spiritual  mysticism  or  pantheism  ? 
Then  so  is  the  other  as  material  mysticism  or  panthe- 
ism. Alas,  we  know  but  in  part ;  our  knowledge  is 
circumscribed  by  our  ignorance. 

Now,  it  is  the  belief  of  all  primitive  nations  that  God 
inspires  the  wise,  the  good,  the  holy  ;  yes,  that  he  works 
with  man  in  every  noble  work.  No  doubt  their  poor 
conceptions  of  God  degraded  the  doctrine,  and  ascribed 
to  the  Deity  what  came  from  their  disobedience  of  his 
law. 

The  wisest  and  holiest  men  have  spoken  in  the  name 
of  God.  Minos,  Moses,  Zoroaster,  Confucius,  Zaleucus, 
Numa,  Mahomet,  profess  to  have  received  their  doctrine 
straightway  from  Him.  The  sacred  persons  of  all  na- 
tions, from  the  Druid  to  the  Pope,  refer  back  to  his  direct 
inspiration.  From  this  source  the  Sibylline  oracles,  the 
responses  at  Delphi,  the  sacred  books  of  all  nations,  the 
Vedas  and  the  Bible,  alike  claim  to  proceed.  Pagans 
tell  us  no  man  was  ever  great  without  a  divine  afflatus 
falling  upon  him.  Much  falsity  was  mingled  with  the 
true  doctrine,  for  that  was  imperfectly  understood,  and 
violence  and  folly  and  lies  were  thus  ascribed  to  God. 
Still,  the  popular  belief  shows  that  the  human  mind 
turns  naturally  in  this  direction.     Each  prophet,  false 


NA  TURALISM  —  SPIRITUALISM.  53 

or  true,  in  Palestine,  Nubia,  India,  Greece,  spoke  in 
the  name  of  God.  In  this  name  the  apostles  of  Chritit 
and  of  Mahomet,  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant,  went 
to  their  work.  A  good  man  feels  that  justice,  goodness, 
truth,  are  immutable,  not  dependent  on  himself ;  that 
certain  convictions  come  by  a  law  over  which  he  has  no 
control.  There  they  stand ;  he  cannot  alter,  though  he 
may  refuse  to  obey  them.  Some  have  considered  them- 
selves bare  tools  in  the  hand  of  God  ;  they  did  and  said 
they  knew  not  what,  thus  charging  their  follies  and  sins 
on  God  most  high.  Others,  going  to  a  greater  degree  of 
insanity,  have  confounded  God  with  themselves,  declar- 
ing that  they  were  God.  But  even  if  likeness  were  per- 
fect, it  is  not  identity.  Yet  a  ray  from  the  primal  light 
falls  on  man.  No  doubt  there  have  been  men  of  a  high 
degree  of  inspiration  in  all  countries,  —  the  founders  of 
the  various  religions  of  the  world.  But  they  have  been 
limited  in  their  gifts  and  their  use  of  them.  The  doc- 
trine they  taught  had  somewhat  national,  temporal,  even 
personal,  in  it,  and  so  was  not  the  absolute  religion.  No 
man  is  so  great  as  liuman  nature,  nor  can  one  finite 
being  feed  forever  all  his  brethren.  So  their  doctrines 
were  limited  in  extent  and  duration. 

Now  this  inspiration  is  limited  to  no  sect,  age,  or 
nation.  It  is  wide  as  the  world,  and  common  as  God. 
It  is  not  given  to  a  few  men,  in  the  infancy  of  mankind, 
to  monopolize  inspiration  and  bar  God  out  of  the  soul. 
You  and  I  are  not  born  in  the  dotage  and  decay  of  the 
world.  The  stars  are  beautiful  as  in  their  prime  ;  "  the 
most  ancient  heavens  are  fresh  and  strong ; "  the  bird 
merry  as  ever  at  its  clear  heart.  God  is  still  everywhere 
in  nature,  at  the  line,  the  pole,  in  a  mountain  or  a  moss. 
Wherever  a  heart  beats  with  love,  whore  faith  and  rea- 
son utter  their  oracles,  there  also  is  God,  as  formerly  in 


54  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  heart  of  seers  and  prophets.  Neither  Gerizim  nor 
Jerusalem,  nor  the  soil  that  Jesus  blessed,  so  holy  as 
the  good  man's  heart ;  nothing  so  full  of  God.  This 
inspiration  is  not  given  to  the  learned  alone,  not  to  the 
great  and  wise,  but  to  every  faithful  child  of  God.  The 
world  is  close  to  the  body  ;  God  closer  to  the  soul,  not 
only  without  but  within,  for  the  all-pervading  current 
flows  into  each.  The  clear  sky  bends  over  each  man, 
little  or  great ;  let  him  uncover  his  head,  there  is  nothing 
between  him  and  infinite  space.  So  the  ocean  of  God 
encircles  all  men  ;  uncover  the  soul  of  its  sensuality, 
selfishness,  sin,  there  is  nothing  between  it  and  God, 
who  flows  into  the  man  as  light  into  the  air.  Certainly 
as  the  open  eye  drinks  in  the  light,  do  the  pure  in  heart 
see  God ;  and  he  that  lives  truly  feels  him  as  a  presence 
not  to  be  put  by. 

But  this  is  a  doctrine  of  experience  as  much  as  of 
abstract  reasoning.  Every  man  who  has  ever  prayed  — 
prayed  with  the  mind,  prayed  with  the  heart  greatly  and 
strong,  knows -the  truth  of  this  doctrine,  welcomed  by 
pious  souls.  The-re  are  hours  —  and  they  come  to  all  men 
—  when  the  hand  of  destiny  seems  heavy  upon  us  ;  when 
the  thought  of  time  misspent,  the  pang  of  affection  mis- 
placed or  ill-requited,  the  experience  of  man's  worse 
nature  and  the  sense  of  our  own  degradation,  come  over 
us.  In  the  outward  and  inward  trials  we  know  not 
which  way  to  turn.  The  heart  faints  and  is  ready  to 
perish.  Then  in  the  deep  silence  of  the  soul,  when  the 
man  turns  inward  to  God,  light,  comfort,  peace  dawn 
on  him.  His  troubles  —  they  are  but  a  dew-drop  on  his 
sandal.  His  enmities  or  jealousies,  hopes,  fears,  honors, 
disgraces,  all  the  undeserved  mishaps  of  life,  are  lost  to 
the  view,  —  diminished,  and  then  hid  in  the  mists  of  the 
valley  he  has  left  behind  and  below  him.     Resolution 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIRITUALISM.  55 

comes  over  him  with  its  vigorous  wing;  truth  is  clear  as 
noon  ;  the  soul  in  faith  rushes  to  its  God.  The  mystery 
is  at  an  end. 

It  is  no  vulgar  superstition  to  say  men  are  inspired  in 
such  times.  They  are  the  seed-time  of  life.  Then  we 
live  whole  years  through  in  a  few  moments,  and  after- 
wards, as  we  journey  on  in  life,  cold  and  dusty  and 
travel-worn  and  faint,  we  look  to  that  moment  as  a  point 
of  light ;  the  remembrance  of  it  comes  over  us  like  the 
music  of  our  home  heard  in  a  distant  land.  Like  Elisha 
in  the  fable,  we  go  long  years  in  the  strength  thereof. 
It  travels  with  us,  a  great  wakening  light,  —  a  pillar  of 
fire  in  the  darkness,  to  guide  us  through  the  lonely  pil- 
grimage of  life.  These  hours  of  inspiration,  like  the 
flower  of  the  aloe-tree,  may  be  rare,  but  are  yet  the 
celestial  blossoming  of  man,  —  the  result  of  the  past, 
the  prophecy  of  the  future.  They  are  not  numerous  to 
any  man.  Happy  is  he  that  has  ten  such  in  a  year,  yes, 
in  a  lifetime. 

Now,  to  many  men  who  have  but  once  felt  this,  —  when 
heaven  lay  about  them  in  their  infancy,  before  the  world 
was  too  much  with  them,  and  they  laid  waste  their 
powers,  getting  and  spending,  —  when  they  look  back 
upon  it,  across  the  dreary  gulf,  where  honor,  virtue, 
religion,  have  made  shipwreck  and  perished  with  their 
youth,  it  seems  visionary,  a  shadow,  dream-like,  unreal. 
They  count  it  a  phantom  of  their  inexperience,  —  the 
vision  of  a  child's  fancy,  raw  and  unused  to  the  world. 
Now  they  are  wiser.  They  cease  to  believe  in  inspiration. 
They  can  only  credit  the  saying  of  the  priests,  that  long 
ago  there  were  inspired  men ;  but  none  now  ;  that  you 
and  I  must  bow  our  faces  to  the  dust,  groping  like  the 
blind-worm  and  the  beetle  ;  not  turn  our  eyes  to  the 
broad,  free  heaven  ;  that  we  cannot  walk  by  the  great 


56  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

central  and  celestial  light  which  God  made  to  guide  all 
who  come  into  the  world,  but  only  by  the  farthing-candle 
of  tradition,  —  poor  and  flickering  light  which  we  get  of 
the  priest,  which  casts  strange  and  fearful  shadows 
around  us  as  we  walk,  that  "  leads  to  bewilder  and 
dazzles  to  blind."     Alas  for  us  if  this  be  all ! 

But  can  it  be  so  ?  Has  infinity  laid  aside  its  omni- 
presence, retreating  to  some  little  corner  of  space  ?  No. 
The  grass  grows  as  green ;  the  birds  chirp  as  gaily  ;  the 
sun  shines  as  warm  ;  the  moon  and  the  stars  walk  in 
their  pure  beauty,  sublime  as  before ;  morning  and  even- 
ing have  lost  none  of  their  loveliness  ;  not  a  jewel  has 
fallen  from  the  diadem  of  night.  God  is  still  there  ; 
ever  present  in  matter,  else  it  were  not ;  else  the  serpent 
of  fate  would  coil  him  about  the  All  of  things ;  would 
crush  it  in  his  remorseless  grasp,  and  the  hour  of  ruin 
strike  creation's  knell. 

Can  it  be,  then,  as  so  many  tell  us,  that  God,  trans- 
cending time  and  space,  immanent  in  matter,  has  for- 
saken man  ;  retreated  from  the  Shekinah  in  the  Holy 
of  Holies  to  the  court  of  the  Gentiles  ;  that  now  he  will 
stretch  forth  no  aid,  but  leave  his  tottering  child  to  wan- 
der on,  amid  the  palpable  obscure,  eyeless  and  fatherless, 
without  a  path,  with  no  guide  but  his  feeble  brother's 
words  and  works  ;  groping  after  God  if  haply  he  may 
find  him,  and  learning  at  last  that  he  is  but  a  God  afar 
off,  to  be  approached  only  by  mediators  and  attorneys, 
not  face  to  face  as  before  ?  Can  it  be  that  thought  shall 
fly  through  the  heaven,  his  pinion  glittering  in  the  ray 
of  every  star,  burnished  by  a  million  suns,  and  then 
come  drooping  back,  with  ruffled  plume  and  flagging 
wing,  and  eye  which  once  looked  undazzled  on  the  sun, 
now  spiritless  and  cold  —  come  back  to  tell  us  God  is 
no  Father  ;  that  he  veils  his  face  and  will  not  look  upon 


NA  TURALISM—  SPIPdTUA  LISM.  57 

his  child,  his  erring  cliild  ?  No  more  can  this  he  true. 
Conscience  is  still  God-with-us ;  a  prayer  is  deep  as  ever 
of  old,  reason  as  true,  religion  as  hlest.  Faith  still 
remains  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen.  Love  is  yet  mighty  to  cast  out  fear. 
The  soul  still  searches  the  deeps  of  God  ;  the  pure  in 
heart  see  him.  The  substance  of  the  infinite  is  not  yet 
exhausted,  nor  the  well  of  life  drunk  dry.  The  Father 
is  near  us  as  ever,  else  reason  were  a  traitor,  morality  a 
hollow  form,  religion  a  mockery,  and  love  a  hideous  lie. 
Now,  as  in  the  days  of  Adam,  Moses,  Jesus,  he  that  is 
faithful  to  reason, conscience,  heart, and  soul,  will  through 
them  receive  inspiration  to  guide  him  through  all  his 
pilgrimage. 


58  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


SPECULATIVE    ATHEISM,    KEGAEDED    AS    A 
THEORY   OF  THE   UNIVERSE. 

The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  there  is  no  God.  — Psalm  xiv.  1. 

The  idea  which  a  man  forms  of  God  is  always  the 
most  important  element  in  his  speculative  theory  of  the 
universe,  and  in  his  particular,  practical  plan  of  action 
for  the  church,  the  state,  the  community,  the  family, 
and  his  own  individual  life.  You  see  to-day  the  vast 
influence  of  the  popular  idea  of  God.  All  the  great 
historical  civilizations  of  the  race  have  grown  out  of  the 
national  idea  which  was  formed  of  God,  or  have  been 
intimately  connected  with  it.  The  popular  theology, 
which  at  first  is  only  an  abstract  idea  in  the  heads  of 
the  philosophers,  by-and-by  shows  itself  in  the  laws,  the 
navies,  the  forts,  and  the  jails ;  in  the  churches,  the 
ceremonies,  and  the  sacraments,  the  weddings,  the  bap- 
tisms, and  the  funerals  ;  in  the  hospitals,  the  colleges, 
the  schools ;  in  all  the  social  charities  ;  in  the  relation  of 
husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child  ;  in  the  daily  work 
and  the  daily  prayer  of  each  man.  Thus,  what  at  first 
is  the  abstractest  of  thoughts,  by-and-by  becomes  the 
concretest  of  things.  If  a  man  concludes  there  is  no 
God  at  all,  that  conclusion,  negative  though  it  is,  will 
have  an  immense  influence,  —  subjectively,  on  his  feel- 
ings and  opinions  ;  objectively,  on  his  outward  conduct ; 
subjectively,  as  the  theory  of  the  universe  ;  objectively, 
as  the  principle  of  practical  life. 


SPECULA  TIVE  A  THEISM.  59 

Speculative  theism  is  the  belief  in  the  existence  of 
God  in  one  form  or  another  ;  and  I  call  him  a  theist 
who  believes  in  any  God.  By  atheism  I  mean  absolute 
denial  of  the  existence  of  any  God.  A  man  may  deny 
actuality  to  the  Hebrew  idea  of  God,  to  the  Christian 
idea  of  God,  or  to  the  Mahometan  idea  of  God,  and  yet 
be  no  atheist. 

The  Hebrews  formed  a  certain  conception  of  a  being 
with  many  good  qualities  and  some  extraordinary  bad 
qualities,  and  called  it  Jehovah,  and  said,  "That  is  God; 
it  is  the  only  God."  The  majority  of  Christians  form  a 
certain  conception  of  a  being  with  more  good  qualities  than 
are  ascribed  to  Jehovah,  but  with  some  most  atrociously 
evil  qualities,  and  call  it  Trinity,  or  Unity,  and  say, 
"  That  is  God  ;  the  only  God." 

Now,  a  man  may  deny  the  actuality  of  either  or  both 
these  ideas  of  God,  and  yet  be  no  atheist.  He  may  do 
so  because  he  is  more  of  a  theist  than  the  majority  of 
Hebrews  or  Christians ;  because  he  has  a  higher  devel- 
opment of  the  religious  faculty,  and  has  thereby  obtained 
a  better  idea  of  God.  Thus  the  Old  Testament  prophets, 
with  a  religious  development  often  far  in  advance  of 
their  Gentile  neighbors,  declared  that  Baal  was  no  God. 
Of  course,  the  worshippers  of  Baal  called  the  Hebrew 
prophets  atheists,  for  they  denied  all  the  God  these  Gen- 
tiles knew.  Paul,  in  the  New  Testament,  more  of  a 
theist  than  the  Greeks  and  Asiatics  about  him,  with  a 
larger  religious  development  than  they  dreamed  of,  said, 
"  An  idol  is  nothing."  That  is,  there  is  no  being  which 
corresponds  exactly  to  the  qualities  ascribed  to  an  idol. 
Their  idea  of  God,  said  Paul,  lacked  actuality  ;  it  was  a 
personal  or  national  whimsey  ;  not  a  perfect  subjective 
representation  of  the  ol^jective  fact  of  the  universe,  but 
only  a  mistaken  idea  about  that  fact. 


60  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

If  a  man  has  outgrown  the  Hebrew,  or  common  Chris- 
tian idea  of  God,  he  may  say  what  Paul  said  of  the  idol, 
"  It  is  nothing."  He  will  not  be"  an  atheist,  but  a  theist 
all  the  more.  The  superior  conception  of  God  always 
nullifies  the  inferior  conception. 

Thus,  as  the  world  grows  in  its  development,  it  neces- 
sarily outgrows  its  ancient  ideas  of  God,  which  were  only 
temporary  and  provisional.  As  it  goes  forward,  the 
ancient  deities  are  looked  on  first  as  devils ;  next,  as  a 
mere  mistaken  notion  which  some  men  had  formed  about 
God.  For  example,  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  the  cus- 
tom of  the  learned  men  of  the  Christian  Church  to  speak 
of  the  heathen  deities  —  Jupiter,  Apollo,  Venus,  and 
the  rest  —  as  devils.  They  did  not  deny  the  actual  ex- 
istence of  those  beings,  only  affirmed  them  to  be  not 
gods,  but  devils  or  "  fallen  angels  ; "  at  any  rate,  evil 
beings.  Some  of  the  heretics  among  the  early  Christians 
said  the  same  of  the  Hebrew  Jehovah,  —  that  he  was 
not  the  true  God,  but  only  a  devil  who  misled  the  Jews. 
Now-a-days  well-educated  men  wiio  still  use  the  terms 
say  that  Jupiter,  Apollo,  Venus,  and  the  others  were 
only  mistaken  notions  which  men  formed  of  God.  They 
deny  the  actuality  of  the  idea ;  "  Jupiter  is  nothing."  A 
man  who  has  a  higher  conception  of  God  than  those 
about  him,  who  denies  their  conception,  is  often  called 
an  atheist  by  men  who  are  less  theistic  than  he.  Thus 
the  Christians,  who  said  the  heathen  idols  were  no  gods, 
were  accounted  atheists  by  the  people,  and  accordingly 
put  to  death.  Thus  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  accused  of 
blasphemy  and  crucified  by  men  who  had  not  a  tithe  of 
tlie  religious  development  and  reverence  for  God  which  he 
possessed.  The  men  who  centuries  ago  denied  the  actual- 
ity of  the  Trinity  were  put  to  death  as  atheists,  —  Servctus 
among  the  rest,  John  Calvin  himself  tending  the  flames. 


SPECULA  TIVE  A  THEISM.  Gl 

At  this  day  the  devil  is  a  part  of  the  popular  Godhead 
in  tlie  common  theology,  representing  the  malignant  ele- 
ment which  still  belongs  to  the  ecclesiastical  conce|)tion 
of  Deity,  If  a  man  says  there  is  no  devil,  he  is  thought 
to  be,  if  not  an  atheist,  at  least  very  closely  related  to 
an  atheist.  He  denies  a  portion  of  the  popular  Godhead  ; 
is  constructively  an  atheist, —  an  atheist  as  far  as  he 
goes ;  atheistic  in  kind,  as  much  as  if  he  denied  the 
whole  Godhead,  when  he  woidd  obviously  be  branded 
an  atheist. 

I  use  the  word  atheism  in  quite  a  different  sense.  It 
is  the  absolute  denial  of  any  and  all  forms  of  God  ;  the 
denial  of  the  genus,  the  denial  of  all  possible  ideas  of 
God,  highest  as  well  as  lowest. 

At  this  day  there  are  some  philosophers,  quite  eminent 
men  too,  who  call  themselves  atheists,  and  in  set  terms 
deny  the  actuality  of  any  possible  idea  of  God.  They 
say  the  idea  of  God  is  a  whimsey  of  men,  and  God  is  not 
a  fact  of  the  universe.  Man  has  a  notion  of  God,  as  of 
a  ghost  or  devil ;  but  it  is  a  pure  whimsey,  —  something 
which  he  has  spun  out  of  his  own  brain,  and  there  is 
nothing  in  the  universe  to  correspond  thereto.  Man  has 
an  idea  of  God,  but  the  universe  has  no  fact  of  God. 

These  men  do  not  mean  to  scoff  at  others.  They  teach 
their  doctrines  with  the  calmness  and  precision  of  i)hi- 
losophy,  and  affirm  atheism  as  tlieir  theory  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  is  a  conclusion  they  have  deliberately  arrived 
at.  They  are  not  ashamed  of  it ;  they  do  not  conceal  it ; 
do  not  ostentatiously  set  it  forth. 

I  am  doing  these  men  no  injustice  in  giving  them  this 
name,  because  they  claim  the  style  and  title  of  atheists, 
and  professedly  teach  atheism.  They  are  not  always 
bigoted  atheists,  but  philosophical.  A  few  of  thom  are 
in  this  country,  founding  schools  and  sects  of  their  way 


62  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

of  thinking.  Some  of  them  are  men  of  quite  superior 
ability,  men  of  very  large  intellectual  culture.  They 
seem  to  be  truth-loving  and  sincere  persons  ;  conscien- 
tious, just,  humane,  philanthropic,  and  modest  men. 
They  are  men  who  aim  to  be  faithful  to  their  nature,  and 
to  their  whole  nature.  I  am  acquainted  with  some  of 
them  ;  they  are  commonly  on  the  side  of  man,  as  opposed 
to  the  enemies  of  man ;  on  the  side  of  the  people,  as 
against  a  tyrant :  they  are,  or  mean  to  be,  on  the  side 
of  truth,  of  justice,  and  of  love.  I  shall  not  throw  stones 
at  these  men  ;  I  shall  devise  no  hard  names  against 
them  ;  they  will  get  abuse  enough  without  my  giving 
them  any  at  all.  I  feel  great  tenderness  towards  them, 
and  very  great  compassion,  —  which  I  suppose  they 
would  not  thank  me  for.  Some  of  them  I  know  per- 
sonally ;  others  by  their  reputation  ;  some  by  their 
writings.  I  think  they  are  much  higher  in  their  moral 
and  religious  growth  than  a  great  many  men  who  are 
always  saying  to  God,  "  I  go,  sir,"  and  yet  never  stir. 
These  are  men  who  have  made  sacrifices  even,  to  be 
faithful ;  and  without  knowing  it  they  have  a  good 
deal  of  practical  religiousness  of  character,  both  in  its 
subjective  form  of  piety,  and  in  its  objective  form  of 
personal  and  social  morality. 

I  do  not  believe  that  such  men  are  real  atheists, 
though  they  think  themselves  so ;  and  I  only  call  them 
so  to  distinguish  their  doctrines,  and  because  they  them- 
selves like  the  name.  I  think  the  philosophical  atheist 
lacks  actuality  as  much  as  the  idea  of  the  devil,  or  a 
ghost. 

The  Bible  says,  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
There  is  no  God."  If  the  fool  says  so,  I  shall  believe 
the  fool  thinks  so  ;  and  if  the  fool  holds  up  his  five  fin- 
gers and  says  he  has  no  hand,  I  shall  believe  the  fool 


SPECULATIVE  ATHEISM.  G3 

thinks  so.  But  when  a  philosopher  says  there  is  no 
God,  I  do  not  believe  he  thinks  so,  only  that  he  thinks 
he  thinks  so.  A  man  may  sometimes  think  he  sees  a 
thing  when  he  does  not  sec  it ;  and  so  a  man  may  think 
he  thinks  a  thing  when  he  does  not  think  it.  A  philo- 
sophical and  consistent  atheist  is  as  much  an  impossi- 
bility, I  think,  as  a  mathematician  W'ho  cannot  count 
two ;  or  as  a  round  square,  or  a  three-cornered  circle. 
I  shall  never  believe  that  a  sane  man  who  can  under- 
stand the  multiplication-table  is  an  atheist,  though  he 
may  call  himself  so,  and  claim  atheism  as  his  theory  of 
the  universe.  But  inasmuch  as  this  is  set  up  as  a  theory 
of  the  universe,  let  us  look  at  it,  and  see  what  real  spec- 
ulative atheism  is.     That  is  the  first  thing. 

There  is  a  mere  formal  atheism,  which  is  a  denial  of 
God  in  terms.  A  man  says.  There  is  no  God;  no  God 
that  is  self-originated,  who  is  the  cause  of  existence, 
who  is  the  mind  and  the  providence  of  the  universe: 
and  so  the  order,  beauty,  and  harmony  of  the  world  of 
matter  or  mind  does  not  indicate  any  plan  or  purpose  of 
Deity.  But,  he  says,  nature,  —  meaning  by  that  the 
whole  sum  total  of  existence,  —  that  is  powerful,  w^ise, 
and  good ;  nature  is  self-originated,  the  cause  of  its  own 
existence,  the  mind  of  the  universe,  and  the  providence 
thereof.  There  is  obviously  a  plan  and  purpose,  says 
he,  whereby  order,  beauty,  and  harmony  are  brought  to 
pass ;  but  all  that  is  the  plan  and  pui-posc  of  nature. 

Very  well.  In  such  cases  the  absolute  denial  of  God 
is  only  formal,  but  not  real.  The  quality  of  God  is  still 
admitted,  and  affirmed  to  be  real ;  only  the  representa- 
tive of  that  quality  is  called  nature,  and  not  called  God. 
That  is  only  a  change  of  name.  The  question  is  this, — 
"Are  there  such  qualities  in  existence  as  we  call  God  ?" 
It  is  not,  —  "How  shall  we  name  the  qualities?"     One 


64  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

man  may  call  the  sum  total  of  these  qualities  Nature, 
another  Heaven,  a  third  Universe,  a  fourth  Matter,  a 
fifth  Spirit,  a  sixth  Geist,  a  seventh  God,  an  eighth 
Theos,  a  ninth  Allah,  or  what  he  pleases.  Spinoza  may 
call  God  Natura  naturans,  and  the  rest  of  the  universe 
Natura  naturata ;  Berosus  may  call  God  El,  and  the  rest 
of  the  universe  Thebal.  They  all  admit  the  existence 
of  the  thing  so  diversely  named.  The  name  is  of  the 
smallest  consequence.  All  these  men  that  I  know,  who 
call  themselves  atheists,  really  admit  the  actual  existence 
of  the  qualities  I  speak  of. 

Real  atheism  is  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  any  God, 
—  a  denial  of  the  genus  God,  of  the  actuality  of  all  pos- 
sible ideas  of  God.  It  denies  that  there  is  any  mind  or 
being  which  is  the  cause  and  providence  of  the  universe, 
and  which  intentionally  produces  the  order,  beauty,  and 
harmony  thereof,  with  the  constant  modes  of  operation 
therein.  To  be  consistent  it  ought  to  go  a  step  further, 
and  deny  that  there  is  any  law,  order,  or  harmony  in 
existence,  or  any  constant  modes  of  operation  in  the 
world.  The  real  speculative  atheist  denies  the  existence 
of  the  qualities  of  God ;  denies  that  there  is  any  mind 
of  the  universe,  any  self-conscious  providence,  any  prov- 
idence at  all.  If  he  follows  out  his  principle  he  must 
deny  the  actuality  of  the  Infinite,  deny  that  there  is  any 
being  or  cause  of  finite  things  which  is  self-consciously 
powerful,  wise,  just,  loving,  and  self-faithful.  To  him 
there  are  only  finite  things,  —  each  self-originated,  self- 
sustained,  self-directed,  —  and  no  more  ;  the  universe, 
comprising  the  world  of  matter,  and  the  world  of  mind, 
is  a  finite  whole,  made  up  of  finite  parts ;  each  part  is 
imperfect,  the  whole  incomplete  ;  the  finite  has  no  Infi- 
nite to  depend  on  as  its  ground  and  cause ;  there  is  no 
plan  in  the  universe  or  any  part  thereof. 


SPECULA  TI VE  A  THEISM.  65 

Now  see  the  subjective  effect  of  this  theory.  By  sub- 
jective, I  mean  the  effect  it  produces  on  the  sentiments 
and  opinions  within  me. 

I.   Look  at  it  first  as  a  theory  of  the  world  of  matter. 

In  respect  to  the  origin  of  matter,  both  theists  and 
atheists  labor  under  the  same  difhculty.  Neither  athe- 
ist nor  theist  knows  anything  about  that.  I  know  men, 
chiefly  theologians,  pretend  to  understand  all  about  the 
creation  of  matter  originally  ;  and  to  hear  them  talk  you 
would  suppose  it  was  as  easy  to  comprehend  how  God 
made  a  world  out  of  nothing  as  it  is  to  understand  how 
a  tailor  makes  a  coat  out  of  broadcloth  or  velvet.  But 
if  a  man  looks  with  a  philosophical  eye,  he  sees  that  this 
creation  of  matter  is  an  extraordinarily  difficult  thing. 
The  philosophical  theist  admits  the  existence  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  the  atheist  does  so ;  but  in  the  present  state 
of  our  knowledge  neither  atheist  nor  theist  knows  the 
mode  of  origination.  You  may  go  back  a  good  ways  and 
study  the  origin  of  an  egg,  a  fish,  seed,  tree,  or  rock,  or 
the  solar  system,  after  the  fashion  of  Laplace  ;  but  the 
manner  of  originating  matter,  out  of  which  the  egg,  fish, 
seed,  tree,  rock,  and  solar  system  are  made,  is  just  as  far 
off  as  ever ;  and  it  seems  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
faculties  of  man :  I  will  not  say  that  it  is  so  ;  only,  in  the 
present  stage  of  man's  development  and  scientific  ac- 
quirements, it  seems  so.  The  origin  of  body  —  of  any 
specific  form  of  matter  —  may  be  made  out,  but  the  ori- 
gin of  matter,  the  primitive,  universal  substance  whereof 
body  is  made,  still  eludes  our  search.  I  know  that  theo- 
logical theists  often  call  the  philosophical  atheist  very 
hard  names  because  he  denies  that  he  can  understand 
this  process  at  present ;  the  charge  is  gratuitous. 

But  the  real  speculative  atheist  must  declare  that  mat- 
ter, the  general  substance  whereof  body  is  made,  is  eter- 

5 


Q6  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

nal,  but  without  thought,  or  will ;  and  the  specific  forms 
of  existence  —  of  egg,  fish,  seed,  tree,  rock,  and  solar 
system  —  all  came  with  no  forethought  preceding  them  ; 
came  "  by  chance,"  —  that  is  to  say,  by  the  "  fortuitous 
concourse  of  matter,"  which  has  no  thought  or  will,  -^  and 
that  they  indicate  no  mJnd,  no  plan,  no  purpose,  no  prov- 
idence. That  is  their  theory  of  the  universe  ;  compare 
it  with  facts. 

See  how  this  scheme  works  on  a  great  scale  in  the 
material  world.  The  solar  system  has  a  sun  and  nu- 
merous planets ;  they  are  all  distributed  in  a  certain 
ratio  of  distance  ;  they  move  round  the  sun  with  a  cer- 
tain velocity,  always  exactly  proportionate  to  their  dis- 
tance from  the  sun.  This  holds  good  with  regard  to  the 
nearest  and  the  farthest.  They  move  in  paths  of  the 
same  form  ;  they  are  ruled  by  the  same  laws  of  motion ; 
they  receive  and  emit  light  in  the  same  way.  These 
laws,  which  are  the  constant  modes  of  planetary  opera- 
tion, when  we  come  to  study  them,  are  found  to  be  ex- 
ceedingly intricate ;  yet  they  are  uniform,  and  the  same 
for  one  planet  as  for  another ;  the  same  for  a  satellite 
as  for  a  planet.  They  are  perfectly  kept,  and  so  uni- 
form in  action  that  if  you  go  back  to  the  time  of  Thales, 
five  hundred  years  before  Christ,  you  can  calculate  the 
eclipse  of  the  moon,  and  find  that  it  took  place  exactly 
as  the  historians  of  that  day  relate ;  or  you  may  go  for- 
ward five  days,  or  five  years,  or  five  thousand  years,  and 
calculate  with  the  same  precision.  So  accurate  are  these 
laws  that  an  astronomer  studying  the  perturbations  of 
a  remote  planet,  the  phenomena  of  its  economy  not  ac- 
counted for  by  the  attraction  of  bodies  known  to  be  in 
existence,  conjectures  the  existence  of  some  other  planet 
which  causes  the  phenomena  not  accounted  for.  Nay, 
by  mathematical  science  he  determines  its  place  and 


SPECULA  TIVE  A  THEISM.  G7 

size,  —  inferring  the  fact  of  a  new  planet  outside  of  the 
uttermost  ring  of  the  solar  system ;  at  a  certain  minute 
he  turns  his  telescope  to  the  calculated  spot,  and,  for  the 
first  time,  the  star  of  Leverrier  springs  before  the  eye  of 
conscious  man ! 

Now,  the  atheist  must  declare  that  all  this  order  of 
the  solar  system  was  brought  about  by  the  fortuitous 
concourse  of  matter,  and  indicates  no  mind,  plan,  or  pur- 
pose in  the  universe.  This  is  absurd.  A  man  might  as 
well  deny  the  fact  of  the  law  of  the  solar  system,  or  the 
existence  of  the  sun,  or  of  himself,  as  to  deny  that  these 
facts,  thus  coordinated,  indicate  a  mind,  denote  a  plan, 
and  serve  a  purpose  calculated  beforehand. 

See  the  same  thing  on  a  smaller  scale.  The  composi- 
tion of  the  air  is  such  that  first  it  helps  to  light  and 
warm  the  earth ;  is  a  swaddling  garment  to  keep  in  the 
specific  heat  of  the  earth,  and  prevent  it  from  radiating 
off  into  the  cold  void  spaces  of  the  universe.  Next,  it 
helps  to  cleanse  and  purify  the  earth  by  its  free  circula- 
tion as  wind.  Then,  it  promotes  vegetation,  carries  wa- 
ter from  the  Tropics  to  the  Norwegian  pine,  furnishes 
much  of  the  food  of  plants,  their  means  of  life.  Next, 
it  helps  animal  life,  is  the  vehicle  of  respiration ;  all 
plants  that  grow,  all  things  that  breathe,  continually 
suck  the  breasts  of  heaven.  Again,  it  is  a  most  impor- 
tant instrument  for  the  service  of  man;  through  this 
we  communicate  by  artificial  light  and  artificial  sound. 
Without  it  all  were  dumb  and  motionless ;  not  a  bird 
could  sing  or  fly,  not  a  cricket  creak  to  his  partner  at 
night,  not  a  man  utter  a  word ;  and  a  voiceless  ocean 
would  ebb  and  flow  upon  a  silent  shore.  The  thought- 
mill  would  be  as  idle  as  the  wind-mill.  Man  kindles  his 
fire  by  the  air;  it  moves  his  ship,  winnows  his  corn, 
fans  his  temples,  carries  his  balloon. 


68  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Now,  the  air  is  capable  of  these  and  a  great  many- 
other  functions  in  virtue  of  its  peculiar  composition,  — 
so  much  hydrogen,  so  much  oxygen.  No  other  combi- 
nation of  elements  could  ever  have  accomplished  this. 
Vary  the  composition,  have  a  little  more  hydrogen  or 
oxygen,  and  you  alter  its  powers  as  a  vehicle  of  radia- 
tion, evaporation,  vegetation,  purification,  respiration, 
communication,  and  combustion.  The  atheist  must  be- 
lieve that  this  composition  is  not  the  result  of  any  mind, 
that  it  serves  no  plan  and  purpose,  and  came  by  the  for- 
tuitous concourse  of  matter;  no  more,  —  that  it  is  all 
chance. 

If  1  should  say  that  this  sermon  came  by  the  fortui- 
tous concourse  of  matter,  that  last  Monday  I  shut  up 
pen,  ink,  and  paper  in  a  drawer,  and  to-day  went  and 
found  there  a  sermon,  which  had  come  by  the  fortuitous 
concourse  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper, — every  man  would 
think  I  was  very  absurd.  And  yet  I  should  not  commit 
so  great  a  quantity  of  absurdity  as  if  I  were  to  say, "  the 
composition  of  air  came  by  the  fortuitous  concourse  of 
atoms  ; "  for  it  takes  a  much  greater  mind  to  bring  to- 
gether and  compose  the  air  which  fills  a  thimble  than  to 
produce  all  the  sermons  and  literature  of  the  world. 

If  the  atheist  says  there  is  mind  in  matter,  which 
arranges  the  planets,  controls  their  distances,  their  rev- 
olutions, their  constant  modes  of  operation,  that  this 
mind  in  matter  arranges  the  elements  in  the  air  so  as  to 
perform  all  the  functions  which  I  have  named,  and  many 
more,  —  then  he  is  false  to  his  atheism,  and  becomes  a 
theist ;  for  he  no  longer  denies  the  qualities  of  God,  but 
only  calls  them  by  a  different  name. 

With  atheism  as  the  theory  of  the  universe,  the  world 
ought  to  be  a  jumble  of  parts,  with  no  contexture  ;  for 
the  moment  you  admit  the  existence  of  order  in  the  very 


SPECULA  TIVE  A  THEISM.  69 

least  form,  a  constant  mode  of  operation  on  the  very 
smallest  scale,  —  why,  you  must  admit  the  existence  of 
the  mind  which  devised  the  order  and  the  mode  of  oper- 
ation ;  and  if  you  call  the  mind  Geist,  or  God,  or  Nature, 
or  Jehovah,  it  makes  small  odds ;  the  question  is  not 
about  the  name,  but  about  the  fact. 

Now  the  world  is  nowhere  a  jumble.  Things  are  not 
"  huddled  and  lumped  together  "  in  the  composition  of 
the  eyeball  of  the  emmet,  or  of  the  solar  system.  Every 
part  of  the  universe  is  an  argument  against  atheism  as  a 
theory  thereof. 

II.  Look  next  at  atheism  as  the  theory  of  individual 
human  life.  According  to  the  atheistic  scheme  there 
is  no  conscious  power  which  is  the  cause  of  me  and  of 
my  life,  which  is  the  providence  thereof  ;  no  mind  which 
arranges  the  world  in  reference  to  me,  or  me  in  reference 
to  the  world.  Does  that  conclusion  satisfy  the  instinct- 
ive desires  of  human  nature  any  better  than  it  accounts 
for  the  facts  of  material  nature  ? 

Look  at  human  life  from  this  point  of  view.  I  see  but 
little  ways  behind,  around,  or  before  me  ;  and  yet,  in  all 
directions,  my  power  of  knowledge  is  greater  than  my 
power  of  work.  I  know  little  of  the  consequences  which 
will  follow  from  my  action.  I  invent  an  alphabet,  gun- 
powder, the  printing-press,  the  steam-engine,  a  represen- 
tative form  of  government,  a  constitution.  I  know  very 
little  of  the  effect  which  these  vast  forces  will  produce 
in  the  world  of  man.  I  know  that  the  steam-engine  will 
turn  my  mill,  that  the  printing-press  will  print  my  news- 
paper, that  gunpowder  will  explode  at  the  touch  of  fire  ; 
but  I  do  not  know  the  effect  which  these  great  forces, 
newly  introduced  to  the  world,  are  to  have  on  the  fami- 
lies, the  communities,  the  churches,  the  states  of  mankind, 
and  on  the  general  development  of  the  human  race. 


70  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

The  atheist  says  there  is  nothing  whicli  knows  any 
better,  or  which  knows  any  more  about  it ;  nothing 
which  uses  these  inventions  as  forces  for  the  advance- 
ment of  any  purpose.  "  The  universe,"  says  he,  "  has 
no  self-conscious  mind  except  the  mind  of  man,  and  he 
is  only  '  darkly  wise  and  meanly  great.'  Nothing  in  the 
world,"  says  our  atheist,  "  knows  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth.  The  universe  is  drifting  in  the  void  inane,  and 
knows  nothing  of  its  whence,  its  whither,  or  its  where- 
abouts. Man  is  drifting  in  the  universe,  and  knows  lit- 
tle of  his  whereabouts,  nothing  of  his  whence  or  whither. 
There  is  no  mind,  no  providence,  no  power,  which  knows 
any  better;  nothing  which  guides  and  directs  man  in 
his  drifting,  or  the  universe  in  the  weltering  waste  of 
time.  Nothing  is  laid  up  for  to-morrow.  My  life  tends 
to  nothing." 

I  am  joyful ;  joy  is  very  well,  but  nothing  comes  of  it. 
I  am  sorrowful,  and  suffer  ;  this  is  hard,  but  it  is  no 
part  of  a  plan  which  is  to  lead  to  something  further. 
And  when  my  manhood  falls  away,  and  my  body  dis- 
solves, all  that  is  to  lead  to  nothing  better.  My  baby- 
teeth  fall  out,  giving  way  to  my  man-teeth,  but  that  is 
all  chance,  and  indicates  no  forethought  of  a  mind  which 
provided  for  the  man  before  the  baby  was  born  ! 

I  serve  men,  and  get  their  hate  and  scorn :  the  Sad- 
ducce  grumbles  because  I  tell  him  of  his  soul  and  im- 
mortality ;  the  Pharisee,  because  I  demand  that  he  devour 
widows'  houses  no  more,  nor  for  a  pretence  make  long 
prayers  ;  and  both  of  these  hunkers,  the  hunker  Saddu- 
cee  and  the  hunker  Pharisee,  throw  stones  at  me,  and  put 
me  to  death.  It  all  comes  to  nothing  for  me  ;  I  am  a  dead 
body,  and  not  a  live  man  ;  that  is  all  I  get  for  my  virtue. 

I  am  a  brave  man,  and  my  country  needs  me  to  repel 
the  Spanish  Armada,  or  to  keep  imperial  Nicholas,  or 


SPECULATIVE  ATHEISM.  71 

Francis,  or  papal  Pius  the  Ninth,  or  the  little  President 
Napoleon,  from  kidnapping  my  liberty.  I  go  out  to  do 
battle,  and  I  come  home  scarred  all  over  with  heroism, 
half  my  limbs  hewed  off,  aching  at  every  pore,  or  I  die 
on  the  spot.  I  carry  no  heroism,  no  manhood  with  me ; 
I  am  a  heap  of  dust  which  other  dust  will  soon  cover ; 
but  the  manhood  which  once  enchanted  this  dust  with 
valiant  life  is  put  out,  and  quenched  for  ever,  —  it  is  all 
gone,  it  is  nothing.  My  brother  in  that  time  of  peril 
was  a  coward  ;  and  when  war  blew  the  trumpet  and  his 
country  called  on  him,  he  crept  under  the  oven.  When 
all  is  over,  and  quiet  is  restored,  he  comes  out  with  a 
whole  skin,  and  over  my  unburied  bones  he  marches 
into  peace  and  carousing,  and  says,  "  A  pretty  fool  was 
this  man  to  lay  down  his  life  for  me,  and  get  nothing  for 
it !  "  and  the  atheist  says  he  is  right. 

The  patriot  soldier  gets  his  wounds  and  crutch,  the 
martyr  his  fagot  and  flame,  Jesus  his  cup  of  bitterness 
and  cross  of  death,  —  and  that  is  all.  Dives  has  his 
purple  and  fine  linen,  faring  sumptuously  every  day, 
more  heedless  than  the  dogs  of  the  beggar  at  his  gate ; 
Lazarus  has  his  sores  and  the  medical  attendance  of  the 
hounds  in  the  street ;  but  death  ends  all. 

The  mother,  whose  self-denial  leads  her  to  forget 
everything  but  her  feeble  crippled  child,  has  nothing  but 
her  affection  and  watching ;  she  dies,  and  all  is  ended. 
Another  mother  abandons  her  sickly,  pestilential  child, 
who  dies  of  neglect,  and  she  lives  forty  years  longer  in 
joyous  wantonness  and  riot ;  and  when  she  dies  it  is  to 
the  same  end  as  the  other ;  only  she  for  her  falseness 
has  had  forty  years  of  animal  joy,  and  the  other  mother, 
for  her  faithfulness,  has  had  nothing  but  an  instanta- 
neous death.  And  my  atheist  says  there  is  no  future 
world  to  compensate  the  mother  who  died  for  love. 


72  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

My  life  is  a  great  disappointment,  let  me  suppose,  — 
and  for  no  fault  of  mine,  but  for  my  excellence,  my  jus- 
tice, my  philanthropy,  for  the  service  I  have  rendered 
to  mankind.  I  am  poor,  and  hated,  and  persecuted.  I 
flee  to  my  atheist  for  consolation,  and  I  ask,  "  What  does 
all  this  come  to  ? "  And  he  says,  "  It  comes  to  nothing. 
Your  nobleness  will  do  you  no  good.  You  will  die,  aud 
your  nobleness  will  do  mankind  no  service  ;  for  there  is 
no  plan  or  order  in  all  these  things  ;  every  thing  comes 
and  goes  by  the  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms.  If  you 
had  been  a  hunker  you  might  have  had  money,  ease, 
honor,  respectability,  and  a  long  life,  with  the  approba- 
tion of  your  minister.     You  had  better  have  been  so." 

I  lay  in  the  ground  one  dearest  to  me  ;  some  only 
daughter, —  her  life  but  a  bud,  not  a  blossom,  yet  mere 
bud  as  it  is,  the  better  part  of  my  life.  In  the  agony  of 
my  heart  I  flee  to  my  atheist  for  comfort ;  and  he  can- 
not give  me  a  drop  of  water  from  the  tip  of  his  finger, 
while  I  am  tormented  in  that  unutterable  grief.  "  A 
worm,"  says  he, "  has  eaten  up  your  rose-bud.  Get  what 
comfort  you  can.  This  is  the  last  spring-day,  no  leaf 
will  be  again  green  for  you." 

I  come  myself  to  die.  I  have  labored  to  extend  my 
existence,  which  every  man  loves  to  do ;  and  so  I  reached 
back  and  sought  to  find  out  who  my  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers were,  and  trace  out  my  pedigree.  I  wished  to 
extend  myself  collaterally,  and  reached  forth  toward 
nature,  and  linked  myself  with  that  by  science  and  art, 
and  with  man  by  love.  The  same  desire  to  extend  my- 
self urges  me  to  go  forward  instinct  with  immortality, 
and  join  myself  again  to  my  dear  ones,  and  to  mankind, 
for  eternal  life.  But  my  atheist  stands  between  me  and 
immortality.  "  Death  is  the  end,"  says  he.  "  This  is  a 
world  without  a  God  ;  you  are  a  body  without  a  soul ; 


SPECULA  TIVE  A  THEISM.  73 

there  is  a  here  without  a  hereafter ;  an  earth  without  a 
Heaven.     Die,  and  return  to  your  dust ! 

"  I  am  a  philosopher,"  says  he.  "I  have  been  up  to 
the  sky,  and  there  is  no  heaven.  Look  through  my  tel- 
escope :  that  which  you  see  afar  off  there  is  a  little  star 
in  the  nebula  of  Orion's  belt ;  so  distant  that  it  will  take 
light  a  thousand  millions  of  years  to  come  from  it  to  the 
earth,  journeying  at  the  rate  of  twelve  millions  of  miles  a 
minute.  There  is  no  heaven  this  side  of  that ;  you  see  all 
the  way  through  ;  there  is  not  a  speck  of  heaven.  And 
do  you  think  there  is  any  beyond  it  ? 

"  Talk  about  your  soul !  I  have  been  into  man  with 
my  scalpel  in  my  hand,  and  my  microscope,  and  there  is 
no  soul.  Man  is  bones,  blood,  bowels,  and  brain.  Mind 
is  matter.  Do  you  doubt  tliis  ?  Here  is  Arnoldi's  per- 
fect map  of  the  brain  ;  there  is  no  soul  there,  —  nothing 
but  nerves. 

"  Talk  of  providence  !  —  there  is  no  such  thing.  I 
have  been  through  the  universe,  and  there  is  no  God. 
God  is  a  whim  of  men  ;  nature  is  a  fortuitous  concourse 
of  atoms  ;  man  is  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms ; 
thought  is  a  fortuitous  function  of  matter,  a  fortuitous 
result  of  a  fortuitous  result,  a  chance  shot  from  the  great 
wind-gun  of  the  universe,  —  which  itself  is  also  a  chance- 
shot,  from  a  chance-charge  of  a  chance-gun,  accidentally 
loaded,  pointed  at  random,  and  fired  off  by  chance. 
Things  happen,  they  are  not  arranged.  There  is  luck, 
and  ill-luck,  but  there  is  no  providence.  Die  into  dust ! 
True,  you  sigh  for  immortality  ;  you  long  for  the  dear 
arms  of  father  and  mother,  that  went  to  the  ground  be- 
fore you,  and  for  the  rose-bud  daughter,  prematurely 
nipped.  True,  you  complain  of  tears  that  have  left  a 
deep  and  bitter  furrow  in  your  cheek ;  you  complain  of 
virtue  not  rewarded,  of  nobleness  that  felt  for  the  In- 


74  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

finite,  of  a  mighty  hungering  and  thirst  for  everlasting 
life,  a  longing  and  a  yearning  after  God ;  all  that  is 
nothing.  Die,  and  be  still !  "  Does  not  that  content 
you  ?  Does  this  theory  square  with  the  facts  of  con- 
sciousness ? 

III.  Now  look  at  atheism  as  a  theory  of  the  life  of 
mankind.  Man  came  by  chance  ;  the  family  by  chance  ; 
society  by  chance ;  nations  by  chance  ;  the  human  race 
by  chance.  Man  is  his  own  sole  guide  and  guardian.  No 
mind  ever  grouped  the  faculties  together  and  made  a 
cosmic  man,  —  it  was  all  chance.  There  is  no  mind 
which  groups  the  solitary  into  families,  these  into  na- 
tions, and  the  nations  to  a  world,  —  it  is  all  chance. 
There  is  no  providence  for  man,  except  in  human  heads. 
Politicians  are  the  only  legislators,  their  statutes  the 
only  law ;  there  is  no  higher  law.  Kings  and  presi- 
dents are  the  only  rulers ;  there  is  no  great  Father  and 
Mother  of  all  the  nations  of  mankind.  There  is  no  mind 
that  thinks  for  man,  no  conscience  to  enact  eternal  laws, 
no  heart  to  love  me  when  father  and  mother  forsake  me 
and  let  me  fall,  no  will  of  the  universe  to  marshal  the 
nations  in  the  way  of  wisdom,  justice,  and  love.  His- 
tory IS  the  fortuitous  concourse  of  events,  as  nature  is  of 
atoms  ;  there  is  no  plan  nor  purpose  in  it  which  is  to 
guide  our  going  out  and  coming  in.  True,  there  is  a 
mighty  going,  but  it  goes  nowhere.  True,  there  has 
been  a  progressive  development  of  man's  body  and  mind, 
and  the  functions  thereof,  —  a  growth  of  beauty,  wisdom, 
justice,  affection,  piety  ;  but  it  is  an  accident,  and  may 
end  to-morrow,  and  the  next  day  there  may  be  a  decay  of 
mankind,  a  decay  of  beauty,  intellect,  justice,  affection ; 
science,  art,  literature,  civilization  may  be  all  forgot,  and 
the  naked  savage  come  and  burn  up  Boston,  New  York, 
London,  and  Paris,  and  drown  the  last  baby  of  civilization 


SPE  CULATIVEA  THEISM.  75 

in  the  blood  of  the  last  mother.  You  are  not  sure  that 
any  good  will  come  of  it ;  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that 
any  good  will  come  of  it.  Says  atheism,  "  Everywhere  is 
instability  and  insecurity." 

Look  on  the  aspect  of  human  misery,  the  outrage, 
blood,  and  wrong  which  the  earth  groans  under.  Here 
is  the  wife  of  a  drunkard,  whose  marriage  life  is  a  per- 
petual violation.  She  married  for  love  a  man  who  once 
loved  her  ;  but  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  in- 
sisted that  he  should  be  made  a  beast.  A  beast,  did  I 
say  ?  Ye  four-footed  and  creeping  things  of  the  earth, 
I  beg  your  pardon !  Even  the  swine  is  sober  in  his  sty. 
The  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  made  this  man  a 
drunkard  ;  and  the  poor  wife  watches  over  him,  cleanses 
his  garments,  wipes  off  the  foulness  of  his  debauch,  and 
stitches  her  life  into  the  garments  which  some  wealthy 
tailor  will  sell,  —  giving  her  for  wages  the  tenth  part  of 
his  own  profit,  —  and  which  some  dandy  will  wear,  — 
thanking  the  "  gods  of  dandies  "  that  he  is  not  like  that 
poor  woman,  so  ill-clad  and  industrious.  She  will  stitch 
her  life  into  the  garments,  working  at  starvation  wages, 
and  yet  will  pay  the  fines  to  keep  the  street-drunkard  out 
of  the  House  of  Correction,  whei-e  the  city  government 
hides  the  bodies  of  the  men  it  slays.  She  toils  till  at 
length  the  silver  cord  of  life  has  got  loosed,  and  the 
golden  bowl  begins  to  break.  She  goes  to  my  atheist, 
and  asks,  "  What  comes  of  all  this  ?  Am  I  to  have  any 
compensation  for  my  suffering  ? "  and  the  atheist  says, 
"  Nothing  comes  of  it ;  there  is  no  compensation.  You 
are  a  fool.  You  had  better  have  got  a  license  from  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  to  prey  on  other  men's  wives  about 
you ;  and  then  you  might  have  had  wealth  and  ease,  and 
respectability.  You  ought  to  drink  blood  and  not  shed 
your  own. 


76  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

"  Abel's  blood  cries  out  of  the  ground,  "  continues  our 
atheist,  "  but  there  is  no  ear  of  justice  to  hear  it,  and 
Cain,  red  with  slaughter,  goes  off  welcomed  to  the  arms 
of  the  daughters  of  Nod  ;  the  victims  of  nobleness  rot  in 
their  blood  ;  booty  and  beauty  are  both  for  him.  The 
world  festers  with  the  wounds  of  the  hero,  but  there  is 
no  cure  for  them  ;  the  hero  is  a  fool  —  his  wounds  prove 
it.  Saint  Catherine  has  her  wheel.  Saint  Andrew  his 
sword.  Saint  Sebastian  his  arrows,  Saint  Lawrence  his 
fire  of  green  wood  ;  Paul  has  his  fastings,  his  watchings, 
his  scourge,  and  his  jail,  his  perils  of  waters,  of  robbers, 
of  the  city  and  the  wilderness,  his  perils  among  false 
brethren ;  and  Jesus  his  thorny  crown,  his  malefactor's 
death ;  Kossuth  gets  his  hard  fate,  and  Francis  the  Stu- 
pid gets  the  Hungarian  throne  ;  the  patriots  of  France 
broil  in  the  tropic  marshes  of  Cayenne,  and  Napoleon, 
surrounded  by  cultivated  women  who  make  merchandise 
of  their  loveliness,  and  by  able  men  who  make  merchan- 
dise of  their  intellect.  Napoleon  the  Little  fills  his  own 
bosom  and  the  throne  of  France  with  his  debauchery ; 
Europe  is  dotted  with  dungeons,  —  Austrian,  Hunga- 
rian, German,  French,  Italian,  —  they  are  crowded  witli 
the  noblest  men  of  the  age,  who  there  do  perpetual  pen- 
ance for  their  self-denial,  their  wisdom,  their  justice, 
their  affection  for  mankind,  and  their  fidelity  to  God. 
These  die  as  the  fool  dieth.  There  is  no  hope  for  any 
one  of  them,  in  a  body  without  a  soul,  in  an  earth  without 
a  heaven,  in  a  world  without  a  God.  Does  not  that  con- 
tent you  ? 

"  All  the  Christian  world  over,  oppression  plies  its 
bloody  knout,  —  its  well-paid  metropolitan  priest  bless- 
ing the  scourge  before  it  is  laid  on.  The  groan  of  the 
poor  comes  up  from  the  bogs  of  Ireland,  and  from  the 
rich  farms  of  England,  and  her  crowded  manufactories. 


SPECULATIVE  ATHEISM.  77 

Men  make  circumstances  in  London,  which  degrade  two 
hundred  thousand  people  below  the  cannibals  of  New 
Zealand,  and  starve  the  Irish  into  exile,  brutality,  or 
death.  The  sighing  of  the  prisoner  breaks  out  from  the 
jail  of  the  tormentor,  who 

"  '  Holds  the  body  bound, 
But  knows  not  what  a  range  the  spirit  takes.' 

"  The  iron  gripe  of  kings  chokes  the  throat  of  the  peo- 
ple. Every  empire  is  girded  at  the  loins  with  an  iron 
belt  of  soldiers,  which  eats  into  the  nation's  flesh.'  Siberia 
fattens  with  freedom's  noble  dead,  and  in  America  tliree 
millions  of  men  drag  out  a  life  in  chains,  bought  as  cat- 
tle, sold  as  cattle,  counted  as  cattle,  only  not  prayed  for  in 
the  Christian  churches,  as  cattle  are ;  and  the  little  com- 
missioners who  kidnap  at  Boston,  and  the  great  stealers 
of  men  who  enact  the  statutes  which  make  women  into 
things,  are  honored  in  all  the  Christian  churches  of  the 
land.  Most  of  '  the  great  men,'  all  the  '  citizens  of  emi- 
nent gravity,'  all  the  '  unimpeachable  divines,'  are  on  the 
side  of  wrong.  Cry  out,  blood  of  Abel !  there  is  no  ear 
to  hear  you.  Victims  of  nobleness,  rot  in  your  blood  !  it 
will  enrich  the  ground.  Ye  saints,  —  Catherine,  An- 
drew, Sebastian,  Lawrence,  Paul,  Jesus,  —  bear  your 
rack  and  gibbet  as  best  your  bodies  may !  Kossuth, 
stoop  to  Francis  the  Stupid  !  Ye  patriots  of  France, 
kneel  to  Napoleon  the  Little,  and  be  jolly  in  the  Sodom 
which  he  makes.  Ye  that  groan  in  the  dungeons  of  the 
world,  who  starve  in  its  fertile  soils,  who  wear  chains 
in  free  America, — yield  to  the  Jeffries,  the  Haynaus, 
the  slave-hunters,  and  the  priests  !  for  there  is  a  body 
without  a  soul,  an  earth  without  a  heaven,  a  world  with- 
out a  God.  Atheism  is  the  theory  of  the  universe  ;  and 
there  is  no  God,  no  cause,  no  mind,  no  providence." 


78  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

The  atheist  looks  on  the  lives  of  the  noble  men 

"  Who  in  the  public  breach  devoted  stood, 
And  for  their  country's  cause  were  prodigal  of  blood," 

and  he  says, "  These  men  were  fools  ;  every  man  of  them 
might  have  been  as  sleek,  as  comfortable,  and  as  fat  as 
the  oiliest  priest  that  Mammon  consecrates.  They  were 
fools,  and  only  fools,  and  fools  continually.  To  the  indi- 
vidual hero  there  comes  nothing  but  blood  and  wounds." 

He  looks  on  the  nations  that  failed  in  their  struggle 
against  a  tyrant's  chain ;  Poland  fell,  and  Kosciusko 
went  to  London,  only  "Peter  Pindar"  to  welcome  the 
exile  ;  Greece  went  down  in  Turkish  night ;  Italy  and 
Spain  must  bow  them  to  a  tyrant's  whim,  —  and  the 
atheist  has  no  hope.  The  States  which  fail  read  no 
lesson  to  mankind,  and  have  no  return  for  their  unblest 
toil.  He  looks  on  the  nations  now  in  their  agony  and 
bloody  sweat,  sitting  in  darkness  and  iron  ;  he  sees  no 
angel  strengthening  them.  What  a  picture  the  world 
presents!  —  heroism  unrequited,  paid  with  misery;  vice 
on  a  throne,  and  nobleness  in  chains.  Want,  misery,  vio- 
lence, meet  him  everywhere  ;  and  for  his  comfort  he  has 
his  creed,  —  a  body  without  a  soul,  an  earth  without  a 
heaven,  a  world  without  a  God ! 

The  atheist  sends  out  his  intellect  to  seek  for  the  con- 
trolling mind,  which  is  the  cause  of  the  created,  the 
reason  of  the  conceivable,  the  ground  of  the  true,  and  the 
loveliness  of  things  beautiful.  His  intellect  comes  back, 
and  has  brought  nothing,  has  found  nothing  but  the 
reflection  of  its  own  littleness  mirrored  on  the  surfaces 
of  things.  He  saw  matter  everywhere  :  he  met  no  causal 
and  providing  mind. 

He  sends  out  his  moral  sense  to  seek  the  legislating 
conscience,  which  is  justice  in  what  is  right,  the  ground 


SPECULATIVE  ATHEISM.  79 

of  good,  and  the  altogether  beautiful  to  the  moral  sense, 
the  equitable  will  which  rules  the  world.  But  his  moral 
sense  returns  silent,  alone,  and  empty  ;  there  is  no  equi- 
table will,  no  altogether  beautiful  of  moral  excellence, 
no  ground  of  good,  no  conscience  which  enacts  justice 
into  the  unchanging  law  of  right :  there  is  only  the 
finite  will  of  man,  often  erring  and  always  feeble,  man 
an  animated  and  self-conscious  drop  of  dew  in  the  Sahara 
of  the  world,  conscious  of  desire,  of  will,  but  of  such 
feebleness  that  soon  he  will  exhale  into  thin  air,  and  be 
no  more  a  drop  in  all  the  world,  —  will  evaporate  into 
nothing.  Everywhere  is  material  fate,  material  chance : 
spiritual  order,  spiritual  providence,  —  that  is  a  dream. 

He  sends  out  his  affections  on  the  same  quest,  seeking 
his  heart's  desire.  They  have  grown  strong  by  love  of 
nature,  —  the  crystal,  the  plant,  and  animal ;  they  have 
been  educated  by  loving  men,  —  parent  and  friend,  and 
wife  and  child,  and  all  mankind ;  refined  by  loving,  no- 
ble men,  who  attract  ingenuous  youth  as  loadstones  draw 
the  iron  dust.  Now  his  affections  fly  forth  with  trem- 
bling wing,  and  seek  the  all-perfect  ideal,  the  object  of 
their  love,  to  stay  the  hunger  of  the  heart  which  craves 
the  infinite  to  feed  upon  and  love.  But  the  affections 
also  come  back  to  the  sad  man  with  no  return.  "  There 
is  nought  to  love,"  say  they  ;  "  nothing  save  man  and  the 
ideals  of  his  heart ;  they  are  beautiful,  but  only  bubbles ; 
his  warm  breath  fills  them  for  a  moment ;  how  fair  they 
shine,  —  they  cool,  they  perish,  and  are  not !  The  breath 
was  but  a  part  of  the  windy  cheat  which  blows  along 
the  world,  —  the  bubble  breaks,  and  is  nothing.  There 
are  only  finite  things  for  3^ou  to  love ;  only  finite  things 
to  love  you  in  return."  He  presses  the  frail  object  of 
his  affection  closer  and  closer  to  his  heart.  "  This,  at 
least,"  say  I,  "  is  secure,  and  is  a  fact,  —  the  dear  one  is 


80  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

a  reality,  and  not  a  dream."  Still,  there  is  a  sadness  in 
my  eye,  whence  speaks  the  unrest  and  wasting  of  the 
heart  which  longs  for  the  unchangeable  lovely.  Death 
comes  down  to  separate  me  from  the  best  beloved. 
Beauty  forsakes  the  elemental  clod ;  the  lip  is  cold,  the 
heart  is  still,  the  eye — its  lovely  light  all  quenched  and 
gone.  Where  is  the  mind  which  once  spoke  to  me  in 
hand  and  lip ;  the  affection  which  loved  me,  finding  its 
delight  in  loving,  serving,  and  in  being  loved  ?  It  is 
nothing;  all  gone, — like  the  rainbow  of  yesterday,  no 
trace  thereof  still  lingering  on  the  sky.  "  But  what !  " 
say  I,  "  is  there  nothing  for  me  to  love  which  will  not 
pass  away  ? "  "  No  :  love  gravitation  if  you  like,  cohe- 
sion, the  primary  qualities  of  matter ;  nought  else  abides." 
I  look  up,  and  an  ugly  force  is  there,  alien  to  my  mind, 
foreign  to  my  conscience,  and  hurtful  to  my  heart,  and 
wantonly  strikes  down  the  one  I  valued  more  than  self, 
and  sought  to  defend  with  my  own  bosom  ;  then  I  die, 
I  stiffen  into  rigid  death.  So  the  heathen  fable  tells 
that  Niobe  clung  to  her  children  with  warding  arms, 
while  the  envious  deities  shot  child  after  child,  daughters 
and  fair  sons,  till  the  twelve  were  slain,  and  the  mother, 
all  powerless  to  defend  her  own,  herself  became  a  stone. 

Last  hope  of  all,  as  first  not  less  of  all,  the  atheist 
sends  out  his  soul,  to  seek  its  rest,  and  bring  back  tid 
ings  of  great  joy.  Throughout  the  vast  inane  it  flies, 
feeling  the  darkness  with  its  wings,  seeking  the  soul  of 
all,  which  at  once  is  reason,  conscience,  and  the  heart 
of  all  that  is,  which  will  give  satisfaction  to  the  various 
needs  of  all.  But  the  soul  likewise  comes  back,  empty 
and  alone,  to  say,  "  There  is  no  God,  the  universe  is  a 
disorder,  man  is  a  confusion ;  there  is  no  infinite,  no  rea- 
son, no  conscience,  no  heart,  no  soul  of  things."  There 
is  nought  to  reverence,  to  esteem,  to  worship,  to  love,  to 


SPECULATIVE  ATHEISM.  81 

trust  in,  nothing  which  in  turn  loves  us  with  all  its  uni- 
versal force.  I  am  but  a  worm  on  the  hot  sand  of  the 
world,  seeking  to  fly,  but  it  is  only  the  instinct  of 
wings  I  feel ;  striving  to  walk,  but  handless  and  with- 
out a  foot ;  essaying  then  to  crawl,  so  it  be  only  up. 
But  there  is  not  a  blade  of  grass  to  hold  on  to  and  climb 
up  by,  not  a  weed  to  shelter  me  in  the  intolerable  heat 
of  life. 

Thus  left  alone  I  look  at  the  ground,  and  it  seems 
cruel,  —  a  mother  that  devours  her  young.  No  voice  cries 
thence  to  comfort  me ;  it  is  a  force,  but  nothing  more. 
Its  history  tells  of  tumult,  confusion,  and  continual 
change ;  it  prophesies  no  future  peace,  tells  of  no  plan 
m  the  confusion.  I  look  up  to  the  sky,  there  looks  not 
back  again  a  kind  Providence,  to  smile  upon  me  with  a 
thousand  starry  eyes,  and  bless  me  with  the  sun's  am- 
brosial light.  In  the  storms  a  vengeful  violence,  with 
its  lightning  sword,  stabs  into  darkness,  seeking  for 
murderable  men. 

There  is  no  providence,  only  capricious  senseless  fate. 
Here  is  the  marble  of  human  nature ;  the  atheist  would 
pile  it  up  into  palace  or  common  dwelling;  but  there  is 
only  the  fleeting  sand  to  build  on,  which  the  rains  wash 
away,  or  the  winds  blow  off ;  nowhere  is  there  eternal 
rock  to  found  his  building  on.  No,  he  has  not  daily 
bread,  —  nothing  to  satisfy  the  hunger  of  his  mind,  his 
conscience,  and  his  heart,  the  famine  of  his  soul ;  only 
the  cold,  thin  atmosphere  of  fancy.  Does  he  believe  in 
immortality  ?  —  it  is  an  immortality  of  fear,  of  doubt,  of 
dread.  Experience  tells  him  of  the  history  of  mankind ; 
a  sad  history  it  seems,  —  a  record  of  war  and  want,  of 
oppression  and  servility.  He  sees  that  pride  elbows 
misery  into  the  kennel,  and  is  honored  for  the  merciless 
act ;  that  tyrants  tread  the  nations  under  foot,  while  some 

6 


82  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

patriot  pines  to  oblivion  and  death  ;  lie  sees  no  prophecy 
of  better  things.  How  can  he,  —  in  an  earth  without  a 
heaven,  in  a  body  without  a  soul,  a  world  without  a  God  ? 

Atheism  sits  down  on  the  shore  of  time  ;  the  stream  of 
human  history  rolls  by,  bearing  successively,  as  bubbles 
on  its  bosom,  the  Egyptian  civilization,  —  and  it  passes 
slowly  by,  with  its  myriads  of  millions,  and  the  bubble 
breaks ;  the  Hebrew,  Chaldean,  Persian,  Grecian,  Roman, 
Christian  civilization,  —  and  they  pass  by  as  other  bub- 
bles, with  their  many  myriads  of  millions,  multiplied  by 
myriads  of  miUions.  Their  sorrows  are  all  ended ;  they 
were  sorrows  for  nothing.  The  tears  which  furrowed 
the  cheek,  the  unrequited  heroism,  the  virtue  unrewarded, 
—  they  have  perished,  and  there  is  no  compensation; 
because  it  is  a  body  without  a  soul,  an  earth  without  a 
heaven,  a  world  without  a  God.  "  Does  not  that  content 
you  ? "  asks  our  atheist. 

No  man  can  ever  be  content  with  that ;  few  men  ever 
come  to  it.  "  Thanks  to  the  human  heart  by  which  we 
live,"  human  nature  stops  a  great  way  this  side  of  that. 

I  am  not  a  cowardly  man ;  but  if  I  were  convinced 
there  was  no  God,  my  courage  would  drop  as  water,  and 
be  no  more.  I  am  not  an  unhopeful  man ;  there  are 
few  men  who  hope  so  much.  I  never  despair  of  truth, 
of  justice,  of  love,  and  piety.  I  know  man  will  triumph 
over  matter,  the  people  over  tyrants,  right  over  wrong, 
truth  over  falsehood,  love  over  hate.  I  always  expect 
defeat  to-day,  but  I  am  sure  of  triumph  at  the  last ;  and 
with  truth  on  my  side,  justice  on  my  side,  love  on  my 
side,  I  should  not  fear  to  stand  in  a  minority  of  one, 
against  the  whole  population  of  this  whole  globe  of  lands. 
1  would  bow  and  say  to  them,  "  I  am  the  stronger. 
You  may  glory  now,  but  I  shall  conquer  you  at  last." 
Such  hope  have  I  for  man  here  and  hereafter,  that  the 


SPECULA  TIVE  A  THEISM.  83 

wickedest  of  sinners,  I  trust,  God  will  bring  face  to  face 
with  the  best  of  men,  his  sins  wiped  clean  off,  and  to- 
gether they  shall  sit  down  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  in 
the  kingdom  of  God ;  but  take  away  my  consciousness 
of  God,  and  I  have  no  hope,  —  none  for  myself,  none  for 
you,  none  for  mankind.  If  no  mind  in  the  universe 
were  greater  than  Humboldt's,  no  ruler  wiser  than  presi- 
dents, and  kings,  and  senates,  and  congresses ;  if  there 
were  no  appeal  from  the  statutes  of  men  to  the  laws  of 
God,  from  present  misery  to  future  eternal  triumph,  on 
earth  or  in  heaven,  —  then  I  should  have  no  hope.  But 
I  know  that  the  universe  is  insured  at  the  office  of  the 
Infinite  God,  and  no  particle  of  matter,  no  particle  of 
mind  shall  ever  suffer  ultimate  shipwreck  in  this  vast 
voyage  of  mortal  and  immortal  life. 

I  am  not  a  sad  man.  Spite  of  the  experience  of  life, 
—  somewhat  bitter,  —  I  am  a  cheerful,  and  joyous,  and 
happy  man.  But  take  away  my  consciousness  of  God  ; 
let  me  believe  there  is  no  infinite  God,  no  infinite  mind 
which  thought  the  world  into  existence,  and  thinks  it 
into  continuance,  no  infinite  conscience  which  everlast- 
ingly enacts  the  eternal  laws  of  the  universe,  no  infinite 
affection  which  loves  the  world,  —  loves  Abel  and  Cain, 
loves  the  drunkard's  wife  and  the  drunkard,  the  mayors 
and  aldermen  who  made  the  drunkard,  which  loves  the 
victim  of  the  tyrant  and  loves  the  tyrant,  loves  the  slave 
and  his  master,  loves  the  murdered  and  the  murderer, 
the  fugitive  and  the  kidnapper  (publicly  griping  his 
price  of  blood,  the  third  part  of  Iscariot's  pay,  and  then 
secretly  taking  his  anonymous  revenge,  stealthily  calum- 
niating some  friend  of  humanity), — that  there  is  no  God 
who  watches  over  the  nation,  but  "  forsaken  Israel  wan- 
ders lone ; "  that  the  sad  people  of  Europe,  Africa,  Amer- 
ica have  no  guardian,  —  then  I  should  be  sadder  than 


84  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Egyptian  night !  My  life  would  be  only  the  shadow  of 
a  dimple  on  the  bottom  of  a  little  brook,  whirling  and 
passing  away  ;  all  the  joy  I  have  in  the  daily  business  of 
the  world,  in  literature  and  science  and  art,  in  the 
friendships  and  wide  philanthropies  of  the  time,  would 
perish  at  once,  —  borne  down  in  the  rush  of  waters,  and 
lost  in  their  headlong  noise.  Yes,  T  should  die  in  un- 
controllable anguish  and  grief. 

A  realizing  sense  of  atheism,  a  realizing  sense  of  the 
consequences  of  atheism,  —  that  would  separate  our  na- 
ture, and  we  should  give  up  the  ghost ;  and  the  elements 
of  the  body  would  go  back  to  the  elements  of  the  earth. 
But  —  God  be  thanked  !  —  the  foundation  of  religion  is 
too  deep  within  us.  There  is  a  great  cry  through  all 
creation  for  the  Living  God.  Thanks  to  him,  the  evi- 
dence of  God  has  been  ploughed  into  nature  so  deeply, 
and  so  deeply  woven  into  the  texture  of  the  human  soul, 
that  very  few  men  call  themselves  atheists  in  this  sense. 
No  man  ever  willingly  came  to  this  conclusion, —  no 
man  ;  no,  not  one.  These  men  who  have  arrived  at  this 
conclusion,  we  should  cast  no  scorn  at  them  ;  we  should 
give  them  our  sympathy,  —  a  friendly  heart,  and  the 
most  affectionate  and  tender  treatment  of  their  soul. 

Religion  is  natural  to  man.  Instinctively  we  turn  to 
God,  reverence  him,  and  rely  on  him.  And  when  reason 
becomes  powerful,  when  all  the  spiritual  faculties  get 
enlarged,  and  we  know  how  to  see  the  true,  to  will  the 
just,  to  love  the  beautiful,  and  to  live  the  holy,  —  then 
our  idea  of  God  rises  higher  and  higher,  as  the  child's 
voice  changes  from  its  treble  pipe  to  the  dignity  of  manly 
speech.  Then  the  feeble,  provisional  ideas  of  God  which 
were  formed  at  first  pass  by  us  ;  the  true  idea  of  God 
gets  written  in  our  soul ;  complete  beauty  drives  out  par- 
tial ugliness,  and  perfect  love  casts  out  all  partial  fear. 


SPECULATIVE   THEISM.  85 


SPECULATIVE    THEISM,    EEGAEDED    AS    A 
THEOEY   OF   THE   UNIVEESE. 

Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  ?    and  one  of  them  shall  not  fall  on 
the  ground  without  your  Father.  —  Matthew  x.  29. 

...  I  USE  the  word  theism,  first,  as  distinguished 
from  atheism, —  that  is,  from  the  absolute' denial  of  all 
possible  ideas  of  God  ;  second,  as  distinguished  from 
the  popular  theology,  which  indeed  affirms  God,  but  as- 
cribes to  him  a  finite  character,  and  makes  him  a  fero- 
cious God ;  and  third,  as  distinguished  from  deism, 
which  affirms  a  God  without  the  ferocious  character  of 
the  popular  theology,  but  still  starts  from  the  sensational 
philosophy,  abuts  on  materialism,  derives  its  idea  of 
God  solely  by  induction  from  the  phenomena  of  material 
nature  or  of  human  history,  leaving  out  of  sight  the  in- 
tuition of  human  nature,  and  so  gets  its  idea  of  God 
solely  from  observation,  and  not  at  all  from  conscious- 
ness, and  thus  accordingly  represents  God  as  finite  and 
imperfect.  I  use  the  word  as  distinguished  from  atheism, 
the  denial  of  God  ;  from  the  popular  theology,  which  , 
affirms  a  finite,  ferocious  God  ;  and  from  deism,  which 
affirms  a  finite  God  without  ferocity.  So  much  for  the 
definition  of  terms.  .  .  . 

I.  There  must  be  many  qualities  of  God  not  at  all 
known  to  men,  some  of  them  not  at  all  knowable  by  us, 
because  we  have  not  the  faculties  to  know  them  by. 
Man's  consciousness  of  God,  and  God's  consciousness 
of  himself,  must  differ  immeasurably.     God's  conception 


86  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

of  himself  must  differ  as  much  from  our  conception  of 
him,  as  the  constellation  called  the  Great  Bear  differs 
from  one  of  the  beasts  in  the  public  den  at  Berne.  For 
no  man  can  ever  have  an  exhaustive  conception  of  God, 
—  one,  I  mean,  which  uses  up  and  comprises  the  whole 
of  God.  We  have  scarcely  an  exhaustive  conception  of 
anything.  Certain  properties  and  forces  of  things  we 
know  ;  substances  of  things  are  almost,  if  not  quite,  be- 
yond our  ken.  But  we  may  have  such  an  idea  of  God 
as,  though  incomplete,  is  perfectly  true,  and  comprises  no 
quality  which  is  not  also  a  quality  of  God.  Then  our 
idea  of  God  is  true  as  far  as  it  goes,  only  it  does  not 
describe  the  whole  of  God.  To  illustrate  tliis,  —  a  thim- 
ble cannot  contain  all  the  water  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
at  once,  but  it  may  be  brimful  of  water  from  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean,  and  it  may  contain  nothing  but  water  from  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  So  our  idea  of  God,  though  not  con- 
taining the  whole  of  him,  may  yet  comprise  no  quality 
which  is  not  a  quality  of  God,  and  may  omit  none  which 
it  is  needful  for  our  welfare  that  we  should  know.  In 
the  self-consciousness  of  God  subject  and  object  are  the 
same,  and  he  must  know  all  his  own  infinite  nature. 
But  in  our  consciousness  of  God  the  limitations  of  the 
finite  subject  make  it  impossible  that  we  should  compre- 
hend God  as  he  is  conscious  of  himself.  It  is  enough 
for  us  to  know  of  the  Infinite  what  is  knowable  to  finite 
man. 

With  qualities  not  knowable  to  us  I  have  nothing  to 
do.  I  shall  not  undertake  to  discuss  the  psychology  and 
metaphysics  of  God.  The  metaphysics  of  man  are  quite 
hard  enough  for  me  to  grapple  with  and  understand, 

II.  Then,  as  a  next  thing,  God  must  be  different  in 
kind  from  what  I  call  the  universe,  —  that  is,  from  na- 
ture, the  world  of  matter,  and  from  spirit,  the  world  of 


SPECULA  TI VE   THEISM.  87 

man.  They  are  finite,  he  infinite ;  they  dependent, 
he  self-subsisting ;  they  variable,  he  unchanging.  God 
must  include  both  matter  and  spirit. 

There  are  tv\o  classes  of  philosophers  often  called 
atheists,  but  better,  and  perhaps  justly,  called  pan- 
theists. 

One  of  these  says,  "  There  are  only  material  things 
in  existence,"  —  resolving  all  into  matter;  "the  sum 
total  of  these  material  things  is  God."  That  is  material 
pantheism. 

If  I  mistake  not,  M.  Comte  of  Paris,  and  the  anony- 
mous author  of  the  "  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History 
of  Creation,"  with  their  numerous  coadjutors,  belong  to 
that  class. 

The  other  class  admits  the  existence  of  spirit,  —  some- 
times resolves  everything  into  spirit,  —  and  says,  "  The 
sum  total  of  finite  spirit,  that  is  God."  These  are  spirit- 
ual pantheists.  Several  of  the  German  philosophers,  if 
I  understand  them,  are  of  that  stamp. 

One  difficulty  with  both  of  these  classes  is  this :  Their 
idea  of  God  is  only  the  idea  of  the  world  of  nature  and 
of  spirit  as  it  is  to-day  ;  and  as  the  world  of  nature  and 
of  spirit  will  be  fairer  and  wiser  a  thousand  years  hence 
than  it  is  now,  so,  according  to  them,  God  will  be  fairer 
and  wiser  a  thousand  years  hence  than  he  is  now.  Thus 
they  give  you  a  variable  God,  who  learns  by  experience, 
and  who  grows  with  the  growth  and  strengthens  with 
the  strength  of  the  universe  itself.  According  to  them, 
when  there  was  no  vegetation  in  the  world  of  matter, 
God  knew  nothing  of  a  plant,  —  no  more  than  the 
stones  on  the  earth.  When  the  animal  came,  when  man 
came,  God  was  wiser;  and  he  advances  with  the  ad- 
vance of  man.  When  Jesus  came,  he  was  a  better  God. 
He  was  a  wiser  God  after  Newton  and  Laplace,  and  was 


88  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

a  more  philosophical  being  after  those  pantheistic  phil- 
osophers had  taught  him  the  way  to  be  so  ;  for  their  God 
knows  nothing  until  it  is  either  a  fact  of  observation  in 
finite  nature,  —  in  the  material  world,  —  or  else  a  fact 
of  consciousness  in  finite  spirit,  —  in  some  man.  He 
knows  nothing  till  it  is  shown  him.  That  is  a  fatal 
error  with  Hegel  and  his  followers  in  England  and 
America. 

Mr.  Babbage,  a  most  ingenious  Englishman,  invented 
a  calculating  engine.  He  builded  wiser  than  he  knew  ; 
for  by  and  by  he  found  that  his  engine  calculated  con- 
clusions which  had  never  entered  into  the  thought  of 
Mr.  Babbage  himself.  The  mathematical  engine  out- 
cipliered  its  inventor.  And  these  men  represent  God  as 
being  in  just  that  predicament.  The  world  is  constantly 
revealing  things  unknown  before,  and  which  God  had 
not  conceived  of.  As  there  is  a  progressive  develop- 
ment of  the  powers  of  the  universe  as  a  whole,  and  of 
each  man,  so  there  is  a  progressive  development  of  God. 
He  is  therefore  not  so  much  a  being  as  a  becoming. 

This  idea  of  a  progressive  Deity  is  not  wholly  a  new 
thing.  The  doctrine  was  obscurely  held  by  some  of  the 
ancient  philosophers  in  the  time  of  Plato. 

If  God  be  infinite,  then  he  must  be  immanent,  per- 
fectly and  totally  present  in  nature  and  in  spirit.  Thus 
there  is  no  point  of  space,  no  atom  of  matter,  but  God  is 
there ;  no  point  of  spirit  and  no  atom  of  soul,  but  God 
is  there.  And  yet  finite  matter  and  finite  spirit  do  not 
exhaust  God.  He  transcends  the  world  of  matter  and 
of  spirit ;  and  in  virtue  of  that  transcendence  continually 
makes  the  world  of  matter  fairer,  and  the  world  of  spirit 
wiser.  So  there  is  really  a  progress  in  the  manifestation 
of  God,  not  a  progress  in  God  the  manifesting.  In 
thought  you  may  annihilate  the  world  of  matter  and  of 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  89 

man  ;  but  you  do  not  thereby  in  thought  annihilate  the 
infinite  God,  or  subtract  anything  from  the  existence  of 
God.  In  thought  you  may  double  the  world  of  matter 
and  of  man  ;  but  in  so  doing  you  do  not  in  thought 
double  the  being  of  the  infinite  God  ;  that  remains  the 
same  as  before. 

That  is  what  I  mean  when  I  say  that  God  is  infinite 
and  transcends  matter  and  spirit,  and  is  different  in  kind 
from  the  finite  universe.  This  is  the  great  point  in  which 
I  differ  most  widely  from  those  philosophers.  I  find  no 
fault  with  them.     I  differ  from  their  conclusion. 

III.  As  a  third  thing,  the  infinite  God  must  have  all 
the  qualities  of  a  perfect  and  complete  being ;  must  be 
complete  in  the  qualities  of  a  perfect  being,  perfect  in 
the  qualities  of  a  complete  one.  To  state  that  by  analy- 
sis which  I  have  just  stated  by  synthesis,  he  must  have 
the  perfection  of  being,  self-existence  ;  the  perfection  of 
power,  almightiness  ;  the  perfection  of  mind,  all-know- 
ingness  ;  the  perfection  of  conscience,  all-righteousness  ; 
of  affection,  all-lovingness  ;  of  soul,  all-holiness,  perfect 
self-fidelity.  Hence,  as  the  result  of  all  these,  he  must 
have  the  perfection  of  will,  absolute  freedom.  I  mean 
to  say,  according  to  this  idea  of  God,  there  must  be  no 
limitation  to  his  existence,  his  power,  his  wisdom,  his 
justice,  his  love,  his  holiness,  and  his  freedom;  none 
from  any  outward  cause,  or  any  inward  cause  whatso- 
ever. The  classic,  or  Greek  and  Roman  idea  of  God, 
represented  him  as  finite,  limited  subjectively  by  ele- 
ments of  his  own  character,  objectively  limited  by  the 
elements  of  the  material  world  !  The  popular  theologi- 
cal idea  in  fact  represents  him  as  finite,  limited  subjec- 
tively by  selfishness,  wrath,  and  various  evil  passions ; 
objectively  by  elements  in  the  world  of  man  which  con- 
tinually prove  refractory  and  turn  out  as  He  did  not 


90  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

intend.  In  this  matter  of  tlie  iniinity  of  God,  I  differ 
from  the  popular  theology,  as  well  as  from  the  common 
scheme  of  philosophy. 

So  much  for  the  idea  of  God  considered  as  infinite. 
So  much  for  its  diversity  from  the  common  schemes. 

Now  look  at  this  philosophical  theism,  with  its  idea  of 
the  infinite  God,  as  a  theory  of  the  universe.  Let  me 
divide  the  universe  into  two  great  parts.  One  I  will  call 
the  world  of  matter,  and  the  other  the  world  of  spirit. 
By  the  world  of  matter  I  mean  everything,  except  the 
Deity,  known  to  us  that  is  not  man  ;  and  by  the  world 
of  spirit  I  mean  what  is  man,  —  both  man  in  his  material 
substance  and  in  his  spiritual  substance.  Let  me  say  a 
word  of  each.  For  shortness'  sake,  I  will  call  the  world 
of  matter  nature.  I  begin  with  this,  as  it  is  the  least 
difficult. 

In  nature  God  must  be  both  a  perfect  cause  and  a 
perfect  providence. 

I.  Of  God  as  perfect  cause.  Creation  itself,  the  non- 
existent coming  into  existence,  is  something  unintelli- 
gible to  us.  But  this  we  know,  that  the  infinite  God 
must  be  a  perfect  Creator,  the  sole  and  undisturbed 
author  of  all  that  is  in  nature.  So  there  must  be  a 
complete  and  perfect  harmony  and  concord  between  God 
and  the  nature  which  he  creates,  God  and  his  works 
must  be  at  one  ;  and  nature,  so  far  as  it  goes,  must 
represent  the  will  and  purpose  of  God,  and  nothing  but 
the  will  and  purpose  of  God.  So,  there  can  be  nothing  in 
nature  which  God  did  not  put  in  nature  from  himself. 

Well,  God  must  have  made  nature  first  from  a  perfect 
motive  ;  next,  of  perfect  material ;  third,  for  a  perfect 
purpose  or  end  ;  fourth,  as  perfect  means  to  achieve  that 
purpose.  That  is,  the  motive  for  creation,  the  purpose 
of  creation,  must  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  infinity 


SPECULATIVE   THEISM.  91 

of  God  ;  in  harmony  with  his  infinite  power,  wisdom, 
justice,  love,  and  holiness  :  the  material  of  nature,  and 
the  means  therein,  with  the  constant  modes  of  operation 
thereof,  —  the  laws  of  nature,  —  must  be  perfectly  ade- 
quate to  the  perfect  purpose,  and  so  must  be  in  complete 
harmony  with  the  infinite  God ;  with  his  infinite  poAver, 
infinite  wisdom,  justice,  love,  and  holiness.  That  is  very 
plain,  following  unavoidably  from  the  idea  of  God  as 
infinite. 

Now,  a  perfect  motive  for  creation,  what  will  that  be  ? 
It  must  be  absolute  Love  producing  a  desire  to  bless 
everything  which  he  creates  ;  that  is,  a  desire  to  confer 
such  a  form  and  degree  of  welfare  on  each  thing  which 
he  makes  as  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  character 
and  nature  of  that  thing  made,  —  that  is,  its  highest  form 
and  degree  of  welfare.    Absolute  love  is  a  perfect  motive. 

A  perfect  purpose  or  end  of  creation  is  the  achieve- 
ment of  that  bliss ;  not  the  achievement  thereof  to-day, 
but  ultimately.  Perfect  material  and  means  are  those 
which  perfectly  achieve  that  purpose ;  not  to-day,  or  when 
I  will,  or  when  the  thing  created  wills,  but  when  the  in- 
finite wisdom  and  love  of  God  wills. 

The  infinite  God  must  create  all  from  a  perfect  motive, 
for  a  perfect  purpose,  of  perfect  material,  as  perfect 
means ;  for  you  cannot  conceive  of  a  God  infinitely 
powerful,  wise,  just,  loving,  and  holy,  creating  anything 
from  an  evil  motive,  for  an  evil  purpose,  from  evil  ma- 
terial, or  as  evil  means.  No  more  can  you  conceive  of 
the  infinite  God  creating  anything  from  an  imperfect 
motive,  for  an  imperfect  purpose,  of  imperfect  material, 
or  as  imperfect  means.  Each  of  these  suppositions  is 
wholly  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  the  infinite  God ; 
for  he  can  have  only  perfect  motives,  perfect  purposes, 
perfect  material,  and  perfect  means  to  create  out  of,  and 


92  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

to  create  by.  This  being  so,  you  see  that  the  selfishness 
and  destructiveness  ascribed  to  God  in  the  popular  the- 
ology are  at  once  struck  out  of  existence.  For  such 
selfishness  and  destructiveness  are  absolutely  impossible 
to  the  infinite  God. 

II.  Next,  of  God  as  perfect  providence.  Creation  and 
providence  are  but  modifications  of  the  same  function. 
Creation  is  momentary  providence  ;  providence,  perpet- 
ual creation.  One  is  described  by  a  point ;  the  other  by 
a  line.  Now,  God  is  just  as  much  present  in  a  blade  of 
grass  or  an  atom  of  mahogany,  this  day  and  in  every 
moment  of  its  existence,  as  he  was  at  the  instant  of  its 
creation.  Men  say,  "  When  God  created  matter  he  was 
present  therein."  Very  true  !  but  he  is  just  as  present 
therein,  with  all  his  powers,  and  just  as  active  with  all 
his  perfections,  at  every  moment  while  that  matter  exists 
as  he  was  when  it  was  first  created.  Men  tell  us  when 
they  read  the  Bible  how  grand  it  must  have  been  to  have 
stood  in  the  presence  of  God  when  Moses  miraculously 
smote  the  rock,  which  gushed  with  miraculous  water. 
But  every  drop  of  water  which  falls  from  my  roof  in  a 
shower,  or  from  my  finger,  thus,  has  as  much  the  presence 
of  God  in  it  as  when,  in  Biblical  phrase,  "  the  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for 
joy,"  at  the  creation  of  Avater  itself.  It  cannot  be  created 
without  God  ;  it  cannot  subsist  without  God. 

Here,  too,  in  his  providence  the  motive,  the  end,  the 
material,  and  means  must  be  infinitely  perfect.  Let  me 
develop  this  a  moment. 

God  at  the  ci-eation  must  have  known  the  action  and 
history  of  each  thing  which  he  called  into  being  just  as 
well  as  he  knows  it  now  ;  for  God's  knowledge  is  not 
a  becoming  wiser  by  experience,  but  a  being  wise  by 
nature.     The  infinite  God  must  know  every  movement 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  93 

of  every  particle  of  matter.  We  generally  assent  to  that 
in  the  gross,  and  reject  it  in  the  detail.  Let  me  give  an 
example. 

All  the  powers,  and  consequently  all  the  action,  move- 
ments,  and   history  of   the  whole  universe  of  matter 
whereof  this  solar  system  is  a  part,  —  a  single 
"  Branch  of  stars  we  see, 
Hung  in  the  golden  galaxy,"  — 

all  the  powers,  actions,  movements,  and  history  of  the 
solar  system  itself,  of  its  primaries  and  secondaries, 
must  have  been  completely  and  perfectly  known  to  God 
before  the  universe  or  any  single  "  branch  of  stars  "  liad 
its  existence.  So  the  powers  and  consequent  history  and 
movement  of  every  particular  thing  on  each  of  these  orbs 
must  have  been  known.  The  action  and  history  of  the 
mineral  matter  on  the  earth,  in  its  inorganic  form,  in  the 
form  of  crystal,  liquid,  gas  ;  the  action  and  history  of 
vegetable  matter,  in  the  fucus,  the  lichen,  and  the  tree  ; 
and  so  of  animal  matter,  in  the  mollusk,  the  eagle,  and 
the  elephant,  —  all  must  have  been  completely  and  per- 
fectly known  by  God  before  their  creation ;  eternally 
known  to  him.  The  powers,  and  so  the  history,  of  each 
atom  in  nature  must  have  been  as  thoroughly  known  to 
the  Mind  of  the  universe  a  million  of  million  of  years 
ago  as  at  this  day,  —  in  their  cause  as  well  as  by  their 
effects. 

For  example,  God  must  have  known,  at  the  moment 
of  creation,  the  present  position  of  this  crescent  moon 
which  beautifies  the  early  evening  hour ;  and  he  must 
have  known,  too,  the  history  of  these  molecules  of  car- 
bon that  make  up  the  cotton  thread  which  binds  the 
sheets  of  this  sermon  together. 

To  say  it  short,  the  statics  and  dynamics  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  of  each  atom  thereof,  must  have  been  eter- 


94  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

nally  and  thoroughly  known  to  God.  And  each  atom, 
with  its  statical  and  dynamical  powers,  —  the  mineral, 
veo-etable,  and  animal  forces  of  the  universe  —  must  have 
been  created  by  him,  from  perfect  motives,  of  perfect 
material,  for  a  perfect  purpose,  and  as  perfect  means ; 
they  must  be  continually  sustained  by  him,  and  he 
must  be  just  as  present  and  just  as  active  in  each  mo- 
ment of  the  existence  of  any  one  of  these  things  as  at 
the  creation  thereof,  or  at  the  creation  of  the  all  of  things. 
So,  then,  each  of  these  must  have  been  created  with  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  its  powers,  actions,  movements, 
and  history,  and  created  from  love  as  motive,  for  ulti- 
mate good  as  purpose,  of  materials  proportionate  to  the 
motive,  and  so  adequate  to  the  end,  and  accordingly  pro- 
vided with  the  means  of  accomplishing  that  purpose ;  for 
the  infinite  perfection  of  God  would  allow  no  absolute 
evil,  no  absolute  imperfection,  in  his  motive,  or  his  ma- 
terial, in  his  purpose,  or  his  means.  If  there  were  any 
such  absolute  evil  or  imperfection  in  the  created,  it  could 
only  have  come  from  an  absolute  evil  or  imperfection  in 
the  Creator  ;  that  is,  from  a  lack  of  infinite  power,  wis- 
dom, justice,  or  love,  —  because  God  had  not  love  enough 
to  wish  all  things  well,  or  justice  enough  to  will  them 
well,  or  wisdom  enough  to  contrive  them  well,  or  power 
enough  to  make  them  well. 

Each  thing  which  God  has  made  has  a  right  to  be  cre- 
ated from  perfect  motives,  for  a  perfect  purpose,  from 
perfect  material,  and  as  perfect  means  ;  and  a  right,  also, 
to  be  perfectly  provided  for.  I  know,  to  some  men  it 
will  sound  irreverent  to  speak  of  the  right  of  the  created 
in  relation  to  the  Creator,  and  of  the  consequent  duty 
and  obligation  of  the  Creator  in  relation  to  the  created. 
But  the  infinite  God  is  infinitely  just,  and  it  is  with  the 
highest  reverence  that  I  ask,  Shall  not  the  God  of  all  the 


SPECULATIVE    THEISM.  95 

earth  do  right  ?  It  is  the  highest  reverence  for  the  Cre- 
ator to  say  that  he  gives  his  creatures  a  right  to  him, 
to  him  as  infinite  Cause,  to  him  as  infinite  Providence ; 
and  I  count  it  impious  to  say  that  God  has  a  right  to 
create  even  a  worm  from  imperfect  motives,  for  an  im- 
perfect purpose,  of  imperfect  material,  as  im})erfcct 
means.  This  right  of  the  creature  depends  on  the  na- 
ture of  the  thing,  on  its  quahty  as  a  creation  of  the  in- 
finite God  ;  not  on  the  quantity  of  being  it  has  received 
from  him.  So,  of  course,  it  is  equal  in  all, — the  same 
in  the  smallest  "  motes  that  people  the  sunbeams,"  and 
the  greatest  man  ;  all  have  a  birthright  to  the  perfect 
providence  of  the  infinite  God ;  an  unalienable  right  to 
protection  by  his  infinite  power,  wisdom,  justice,  love, 
and  holiness.  This  lien  on  the  infinity  of  God  vests  in 
the  substance  of  their  finite  nature,  and  is  not  to  be 
voided  by  any  accident  of  their  history  ;  for  that  accident 
must  have  been  known  and  provided  for  as  one  of  the 
consequences  of  their  powers.  Each  thing  has  the  in- 
finite perfection  of  God  as  guarantee  to  that  right.  God 
is  security  for  the  universe,  and  his  hand  is  endorsed 
on  every  great  and  little  thing  which  he  has  made. 
Then,  if  I  am  sure  of  God  and  his  infinity,  I  am  sure 
beforehand  of  the  ultimate  welfare  of  everything  which 
God  has  made ;  for  the  infinite  Father  is  the  pledge  and 
collateral  security,  the  endorser  therefor. 

We  cannot  comprehend  the  details  of  this  providence, 
more  than  of  creating,  nor  fully  understand  the  mode  of 
attaining  the  end ;  the  mode  of  terminating,  originating, 
and  sustaining,  are  equally  unintelligible  to  us ;  but  the 
fact  we  know  from  the  idea  of  God  as  infinite.  As  we 
cannot  with  a  Gunter's-chain  measure  the  distance  be- 
tween the  sun  and  the  earth,  but  as  by  calculation,  start- 
inff  from  facts  of  internal  consciousness  and  external 


96  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

observation,  we  can  measure  it  with  greater  proportion- 
ate exactness  than  a  carpenter  could  measure  the  desk 
under  my  hand,  —  so  we  cannot  understand  God's  mode 
of  operation  as  cause  or  providence,  more  than  an  In- 
dian baby,  newly  born  in  Shawneetown,  could  understand 
the  astronomer's  mode  of  operation  in  calculating  the 
distance  between  the  earth  and  the  sun ;  but  as  we  have 
this  idea  of  God,  though  we  know  not  the  mode  of  oper- 
ation,—  the  middle  terms  which  intervene  betwixt  the 
purpose  and  the  achievement,  —  we  are  yet  sure  of  the 
fact  that  the  motive,  purpose,  material,  and  means  are  all 
proportionate  to  the  nature  of  the  Creator,  and  adequate 
for  the  welfare  of  the  created. 

In  nature  God  is  the  only  cause,  the  only  providence, 
the  only  power ;  the  law  of  nature,  —  that  is,  the  constant 
mode  of  action  of  the  forces  of  the  material  world,  — 
represents  the  modes  of  action  of  God  himself,  his 
thought  made  visible  ;  and  as  he  is  infinite,  unchangea- 
bly perfect,  and  perfectly  unchangeable,  his  mode  of  ac- 
tion is  therefore  constant  and  universal,  so  that  there 
can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  violation  of  God's  constant 
mode  of  action ;  for  there  is  no  power  to  violate  it  ex- 
cept God  himself,  and  the  perfectly  infinite  God  could 
not  violate  his  own  perfect  modes  of  action.  And  ac- 
cordingly there  is  no  chance,  no  evil,  no  imperfection,  in 
motive  or  purpose,  in  material  or  means,  or  in  the  modes 
of  action  thereof.  Everywhere  is  calculated  order,  no- 
where chance  and  confusion ;  everywhere  regular,  con- 
stant modes  of  action  of  the  forces  in  the  material  world, 
unvarying  and  eternal  laws,  nowhere  is  there  an  extem- 
poraneous miracle.  Men  have  their  precarious  make- 
shifts, the  Infinite  has  no  tricks  and  subterfuges, — not 
a  miracle  in  nature,  not  a  whim  in  God.  Seeming  chance 
is  real  direction ;  what  looks  like  evil  in  nature  is  real 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  97 

good.  The  sparrow  that  falls  to-day  does  not  fall  to 
ruin,  but  to  ultmiate  welfare.  Though  we  know  not 
the  mode  of  operation,  there  must  he  another  world  for 
the  sparrow  as  for  man. 

So  much  for  this  theism,  as  a  theory  of  the  world  of 
matter.  Now  a  word  for  it  as  a  theory  of  the  world  of 
spirit,  of  the  world  of  man.  This  shall  include  man  so 
far  as  he  is  matter ;  and  so  far  as  he  is  matter  and 
something  more. 

Look  at  this  first  in  the  most  general  way,  in  relation 
to  human  nature,  to  mankind  as  a  whole ;  then  I  will 
come  down  to  particulars.  Here  the  same  thing  is  to 
be  said  as  of  nature  ;  namely,  the  infinite  God  must  be  a 
perfect  cause  thereof,  and  have  created  the  world  of 
man  from  perfect  motives,  for  a  perfect  purpose,  of  per- 
fect material,  as  perfect  means.  God  has  no  other  mo- 
tive, purpose,  material,  or  means.  The  perfect  motive 
must  be  absolute  love,  producing  the  desire  to  bless 
the  world  of  man,  —  that  is,  to  desire  to  confer  thereon  a 
form  and  degree  of  welfare  which  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  entire  nature  of  man.  The  perfect  purpose 
must  be  the  attainment  of  that  bliss  ;  the  ultimate  at- 
tainment not  to-day,  or  when  man  wills,  but  when  the 
infinite  God  wills.  Perfect  material  is  that  which  is  ca- 
pable of  this  welfare;  and  perfect  means  are  such  as 
achieve  it. 

So  much  for  God  considered  as  a  perfect  cause  in  the 
world  of  man.  I  need  not  here  further  repeat  what  I 
just  said  of  creation  in  the  world  of  matter. 

But  God  must  be  also  perfect  providence  for  the  world 
of  man  ;  he  must  be  perpetually  present  therein,  in  each 
portion  thereof.  Men  think  that  God  was  present  in 
some  moment  of  time,  at  the  creation  of  mankind.  Yery 
true  !  but  in  each  moment  of  mankind's  existence  since, 

7 


98  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

God  is  just  as  present ;  for  providence  is  a  continuous 
line  of  creations,  and  God  is  as  much  present,  and  as 
much  active,  at  any  point  of  that  line  as  at  the  beginning 
or  end  thereof.  I  know  men  speak  of  yielding  up  the 
spirit  and  going  out  of  the  body,  going  to  God.  Is  not 
God  about,  within,  and  around  us,  while  we  are  in  the 
body,  just  as  much  as  when  we  shake  off  the  known  and 
enter  on  that  untried  being  ? 

God  must  have  known  at  the  creation  all  the  action 
and  history  of  the  world  of  man  as  well  as  of  nature. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  ten  thousand  years  ago 
God  knew  less  of  human  history  than  he  knows  to-day. 
That  would  be  to  make  God  imperfect  in  his  wisdom, 
growing  wiser  by  experience.  Napoleon's  coup  d'etat 
was  a  surprise  to  mankind  ten  months  ago  ;  do  you  think 
it  was  an  astonishment  to  God  ten  months  ago  ?  Was  it 
not  infinitely  known  hundreds  of  millions  of  years  ago, 
—  eternally  known  ?    It  must  have  been  so. 

I  know  the  question  is  here  more  complicated  than  in 
nature,  for  in  nature  there  is  only  one  force,  the  direct 
statical  and  dynamical  action  of  matter  ;  and  accordingly 
it  is  easy  to  calculate  the  action  and  result  of  mechani- 
cal, vegetable,  electrical,  and  vital  forces.  But  in  the 
world  of  man  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  freedom,  and 
that  seems  to  make  the  question  difficult.  In  that  part 
of  the  world  of  nature  not  endowed  with  animal  life, 
there  is  no  margin  of  oscillation  ;  and  you  may  know 
just  where  the  moon  will  be  to-night,  and  where  it  will 
be  a  thousand  years  hence.  The  constant  forces  with 
their  compensations  may  all  be  known ;  and  so  every 
nutation  of  the  moon  is  calculable  with  entire  certainty. 
The  modes  of  action  there  are  as  little  variable  as  the 
maxims  of  geometry.  The  moon's  node  is  an  invariable 
consequent   of  material  necessity.     When  a  star  with 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  99 

fiery  hair  came  splendoring  through  the  night,  it  filled 
media3val  astronomers  with  amazement ;  and  celibate 
priests,  divorced  from  nature,  shook  with  superstitious 
fear,  as  it  wrote  its  hieroglyphic  of  God  over  Bvzantium 
or  Rome ;  was  God  astonished  at  his  wandering  and 
hairy  star  ? 

In  the  world  of  animals  there  is  a  small  margin  of  os- 
cillation ;  but  you  are  pretty  sure  to  know  what  the  ani- 
mals will  do,  —  that  the  beaver  will  build  his  dam,  and 
the  wren  her  nest  just  as  their  fathers  built ;  that  every 
bee  next  summer  will  make  her  six-sided  cell  with  the 
same  precision  and  geometric  economy  of  material  and 
space  wherewith  her  ancestors  wrought  ten  thousand 
years  ago. 

But  man  has  a  certain  amount  of  freedom,  a  larger 
margin  of  oscillation,  wherein  he  vibrates  from  side  to 
side.  The  nod  of  Lord  Burleigh  is  a  variable  contingent 
of  human  caprice.  Hence  it  is  thought  that  God  could 
not  foreknow  the  oscillations  of  caprice  in  the  human 
race,  in  the  Adamitic  Cain  of  ancient  poetry,  or  the 
Napoleonic  Cain  of  contemporaneous  history,  till  after 
they  took  place.  But  that  conclusion  comes  only  from 
putting  our  limitations  on  God.  It  is  difficult  for  the 
astronomer's  little  boy  to  measure  the  cradle  he  sleeps 
in,  or  to  tell  what  time  it  is  by  the  nursery  clock  ;  but 
the  astronomer  can  measure  the  vast  orbit  of  Leverrier's 
star  before  seeing  it.  and  correct  his  clock  by  the  great 
dial  hung  up  in  heaven  itself;  and  the  difference  be- 
tween the  mind  of  the  astronomer's  boy  and  the  mind  of 
the  astronomer  is  nothing  compared  to  the  odds  between 
finite  intellect  and  the  infinite  understanding  of  God. 
So,  though  the  greater  complication  makes  it  more  diffi- 
cult for  you  and  me  to  understand  the  consciousness 
of  free  men,  whose  feelings,  thoughts,  and  consequent 


100  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

actions  are  such  manifold  contingents,  it  is  not  at  all 
more  difficult  for  God. 

Before  the  creation  the  infinite  God,  as  perfect  cause 
and  providence,  must  have  known  all  the  powers  and 
consequent  actions,  movements,  and  history  of  the  col- 
lective world  of  men,  and  each  individual  thereof.  For, 
either  man  has  no  freedom  at  all,  or  he  has  some  free- 
dom of  will. 

In  the  first  case,  if  he  has  no  freedom,  no  margin  of 
oscillation,  the  fore-knowableness  of  his  actions  does  not 
differ  from  that  of  the  world  of  matter ;  and  the  nuta- 
tion of  the  moon  and  the  nod  of  Lord  Burleigh  are 
equally  tlie  invariable  consequent  of  material  or  human 
necessity.  Then  God  is  the  only  force  in  the  human 
world,  and  of  course,  without  difficulty,  knows  all  its 
action,  for  a  knowledge  of  the  world  is  only  part  of  his 
consciousness  of  himself ;  the  treachery  of  Judas  and 
the  faithfulness  of  Jesus  are  then  but  facts  of  the  divine 
self-consciousness. 

If  there  be  freedom,  then  God,  as  the  perfect  cause  of 
man's  freedom  of  will,  must  have  perfectly  understood 
the  powers  of  that  freedom;  and  understanding  per- 
fectly the  powers,  he  knew  perfectly  all  the  actions, 
movements,  and  history  thereof,  at  the  moment  of  crea- 
tion as  well  as  to-day.  The  perfect  Cause  must  know 
the  consequence  of  his  perfect  creation,  and  knowing  the 
cause  and  the  effects  thereof,  as  perfect  Providence,  and 
working  from  a  perfect  motive,  for  a  perfect  purpose, 
with  perfect  material,  and  by  perfect  means,  he  must 
so  arrange  all  things  that  the  material  shall  be  capable 
of  ultimate  welfare  ;  and  must  use  means  proportionate 
to  the  nature  and  adequate  to  the  purpose.  So  the 
quantity  of  human  oscillation,  with  all  the  consequences 
thereof,  must  of  course  be  perfectly  known  to  God  before 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  101 

the  creation  as  well  as  after  the  special  events  come  to 
pass  ;  for  to  God  contingents  of  caprice  and  consequents 
of  necessity  must  be  equally  clear,  both  before  and  after 
the  event.  Little  boys,  under  a  capricious  schoolmaster, 
learn  the  constants  of  his  anger's  ebb  or  flow. 

"  Full  well  the  boding  tremblers  learn  to  trace 
The  day's  disaster  in  his  morning  face." 

And  do  you  think  the  infinite  God  is  astonished  at  revo- 
lutions in  Italy,  or  the  discovery  of  ether  ?  because  a 
hyena,  stealthily  and  at  night,  kills  a  girl  in  an  Abys- 
sinian town,  or  a  kidnapper  as  stealthily  and  also  by 
night,  destroys  a  man  in  Boston  ?  The  hyena  crouch- 
ing in  his  den,  the  kidnapper  lurking  in  his  office,  are 
both  known  to  God. 

'  Though  human  caprice  and  freedom  be  a  contingent 
force,  yet  God  knows  human  caprice  when  he  makes  it, 
knows  exactly  the  amount  of  that  contingent  force,  all 
its  actions,  movements,  and  history,  and  what  it  will 
bring  about.  And  as  he  is  infinitely  wise,  just,  and  lov- 
ing Cause  and  Providence,  so  there  can  bo  no  absolute 
evil  or  imperfection  in  the  world  of  man,  more  than  in 
the  world  of  matter,  or  in  God  himself. 

So  much  for  this  theism  as  a  theory  of  the  world  of 
man  as  a  wliole,  in  its  most  general  form. 

Now  see  the  concrete  application  thereof  in  the  gen- 
eral human  life  —  in  the  life  of  nations.  In  creating 
mankind  God  must  have  known  there  would  come  the 
great  races  of  men,  —  Ethiopian,  Malay,  Tartar,  Ameri- 
can, Caucasian.  He  must  have  known  there  would 
come  such  families  of  the  Caucasian  as  the  Slavic,  Clas- 
sic, Celtic,  Teutonic ;  such  stocks  of  the  Teutonic  as  the 
Scandinavian,  the  German,  the  Saxon ;  of  the  Saxon 
such  nations  as  England  and  America ;  in  their  history 


102  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

such  events  as  the  American  Revolution,  the  Mexican 
War,  and  the  like.  I  mean  that  God,  as  perfect  cause, 
must  have  perfectly  known  all  these  things  from  eternity 
as  well  as  now.  History  is  a  surprise  to  us,  not  to  God. 
The  breaking  out  of  the  Mexican  War,  the  capture  of 
Mexico,  the  failure  or  success  of  a  general,  might  be  an 
astonishment  to  men  ;  God  was  not  wiser  afterwards 
than  before.  As  perfect  cause  and  providence,  he  must 
have  arranged  all  things  so  that  mankind  as  a  whole 
shall  attain  that  bliss  which  his  perfect  motive  and  per- 
fect purpose  require,  which  is  indispensable  to  his  per- 
fect material  and  his  perfect  means.  All  the  powers 
and  consequent  actions,  movements,  and  history  of  man- 
kind must  therefore  have  been  known  and  provided  for. 
The  savage,  the  barbarous,  the  half-civilized,  and  the  civ- 
ilized—  the  feudal  and  commercial  periods,  and  others 
yet  in  store,  must  have  been  known  and  provided  for. 
The  whole  religious  history  of  man,  Atheism,  Fetichism, 
Polytheism,  Monotheism,  —  the  Monotheism  of  the  He- 
brews and  of  the  Christians, —  must  have  been  known. 
The  rise,  decline,  and  fall  of  Egypt,  India,  Persia,  Judea, 
Greece,  Rome,  and  Byzantium,  must  have  been  as  well 
understood  by  God  at  creation  as  now  ;  and  as  perfect 
providence,  he  must  have  provided  for  the  rise,  decline, 
and  fall  thereof,  so  that  they  should  be  steps  forward, 
toward  ultimate  bliss,  and  not  from  it.  He  must  have 
given  man  his  power  of  free  will  as  all  other  powers, 
from  a  perfect  motive,  for  a  perfect  purpose,  of  perfect 
material,  and  as  perfect  means  ;  and  of  course  it  must 
achieve  that  purpose  for  mankind  as  a  whole,  for  those 
great  races,  —  Ethiopian,  Malay,  Tartar,  American,  Cau- 
casian ;  for  those  families,  —  Slavic,  Classic,  Celtic,  Teu- 
tonic ;  for  those  tribes,  —  Scandinavian,  German,  Saxon; 
for  every  nation,  —  England,  America.    The  great  events 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  103 

of  their  history,  —  the  American  Revolution,  the  Mexi- 
can War,  and  every  other,  —  must  be  so  overruled  and 
balanced  that  they  shall  contribute  to  the  achievement 
of  the  purpose  of  God.  And  what  is  true  of  the  whole 
must  be  true  of  each  ;  and  God  must  be  perfect  provi- 
dence for  one  as  well  as  for  another,  and  so  arrange 
these  that  they  all  shall  come  to  ultimate  bliss. 

Therefore  as  you  look  on  the  sad  aspect  of  the  world 
at  present,  —  on  Italy,  ridden  by  pope  and  priest ;  on 
Austria,  Hungary,  Germany,  the  spark  of  freedom  trod- 
den out  by  the  imperial  or  royal  hoof ;  on  France, 
crushed  by  her  own  armies  at  the  command  of  a  cunning 
voluptuary  ;  on  Ireland,  trodden  down  by  the  capitalists 
of  Britain  ;  on  the  American  slave,  manacled  by  state 
and  church,  — you  know,  first,  that  God  foresaw  all  this 
at  the  creation,  as  a  consequence  of  the  forces  which  he 
put  into  human  nature  ;  next,  you  know  that  he  pro- 
vides for  it  all,  so  that  it  shall  not  interfere  with  the 
ultimate  bliss  of  the  Italian,  pope-ridden  and  priest-rid- 
den ;  of  the  Austrian,  Hungarian,  German,  from  whose 
heart  the  imperial  or  royal  hoof  has  trod  the  spark  of 
liberty ;  of  the  Frenchman,  the  victim  of  a  voluptuous 
tyrant ;  of  the  Irishman,  trodden  down  by  the  British 
capitalists  ;  and  of  the  American  slave,  fettered  by  the 
American  church  and  manacled  by  the  American  state. 
God  made  the  world  so  that  these  partial  evils  would 
take  place,  and  they  take  place  with  his  infinite  knowl- 
edge, and  under  his  infinite  providence.  So  when  we 
see  these  evils,  we  know  that  though  immense  they  are 
partial  evils  compensated  by  constants  somewhere,  and 
provided  for  in  the  infinite  engineering  of  God,  so  that 
they  shall  be  the  cause  of  some  ultimate  good.  For 
mankind  has  a  right  to  be  perfectly  created ;  each  race, 
family,  tribe,  nation,  has  a  right  to  be  created  from  per- 


104  ,  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

feet  motives  for  a  perfeet  purpose,  of  perfect  material, 
and  with  the  means  to  achieve  that  purpose,  —  not  at  the 
time  when  Russia  and  Montenegro  will,  or  when  you 
and  I  will,  but  when  infinite  wisdom,  justice,  love,  knows 
that  it  is  best.  And  sad  as  the  world  looks,  God  knew 
it  all,  provided  for  it  all ;  and  its  welfare,  its  ultimate 
triumph  is  insured  at  the  office  of  the  infinite  God.  His 
hand  is  endorsed  on  each  race,  each  family,  each  tribe, 
each  nation  of  mankind.  You  cannot  suppose  —  as 
writers  of  the  Old  Testament  do  —  that  the  affairs  of  the 
world  look  desperate  to  God,  and  he  repents  having 
made  mankind,  or  any  fraction  of  the  human  race. 

See  this  theism  in  its  application  to  individual  human 
life,  —  your  life  and  mine.  God  is  perfect  cause  and 
perfect  providence  for  me  and  you.  Before  the  creation 
he  knew  everything  that  I  shall  do,  everything  that  I 
shall  suffer,  everything  that  I  sliall  be,  —  provided  for  it 
all,  so  that  absolute  bliss  must  be  the  welfare  of  each  of 
us  at  last.  The  evil,  —  that  is,  the  suffering  in  mind, 
body,  and  estate,  the  imperfect  bliss,  my  failing  to  attain 
the  outward  or  inward  condition  of  this  welfare,  —  these 
must  come  either  from  my  nature,  —  my  human  nature  as 
man,  my  individual  nature  as  the  son  of  John  and  Han- 
nah,—  or  from  my  circumstances  that  are  about  me,  or, 
as  a  third  thing,  from  the  joint  action  of  these  two. 

God,  as  perfect  cause,  must  have  known  my  nature, 
my  circumstances,  the  effect  of  their  joint  action  ;  as 
perfect  providence,  he  must  have  arranged  things  so  that 
nature  and  circumstances  shall  work  out  for  me  and  for 
everybody  all  this  ultimate  bliss  which  the  perfect  mo- 
tive can  desire  as  a  perfect  purpose,  which  perfect  mate- 
rials can  achieve  as  perfect  means.  My  individual 
suffering,  error,  sin,  must  have  been  equally  foreseen, 
fore-cared  for,  and  used  in  the  great  housekeeping  of 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  105 

the  Eternal  Mother  as  a  means  to  accomphsh  the  pur- 
pose of  ultimate  welfare. 

This  must  be  true  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  crucified,  and 
of  Judas  Iscariot  who  betrayed  him  to  the  cross  ;  of  the 
St.  Domingo  hero  wlio  rotted  in  his  dungeon,  and  of 
Napoleon  the  Great  who  locked  his  dungeon  door,  him- 
self one  day  to  be  jailed  on  a  rock,  with  Ocean  mount- 
ing guard  over  this  Prometheus  of  historic  times  ;  of 
theistic  John  Huss  who  blazed  in  his  fire,  and  of  the 
twenty-third  John,  the  perjured  pope  of  Rome,  who  lit 
that  fire  five  hundred  miles  from  home. 

As  at  the  creation  of  the  world  of  matter  God  knew 
where  the  solar  system  would  be  in  space,  where  the 
molecules  of  carbon  which  form  the  tie  that  binds  my 
sermon  together  would  be  on  this  seventeenth  of  Oct- 
ober, eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-two  years  after  the 
cradling  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  as  he  arranged  the  uni- 
verse so  that  the  solar  system  and  these  molecules  of 
carbon  should  harmonize  together  ;  as  he  knew  of  the 
rise,  decline,  and  fall  of  States,  and  arranged  all  these 
things  so  as  to  harmonize  with  tlie  march  of  man 
towards  greater  bliss,  —  so  he  must  have  known  where 
this  little  atom  of  spirit  which  I  call  me  would  be  this 
day,  —  what  thoughts,  feelings,  will,  and  suffering  I 
should  have ;  and  he  must  make  all  these  harmonize 
with  my  march  towards  that  ultimate  bliss  which  my 
human  nature  needs  to  take,  and  which  his  infinite 
nature  needs  to  give. 

God  is  responsible  for  his  own  creation,  —  his  world  of 
matter  and  his  world  of  man,  —  for  mankind  in  general, 
for  you  and  me.  God's  work  is  all  warranted.  Each 
man  has  a  right  to  perfect  creation,  —  creation  from 
perfect  motives,  of  perfect  material,  as  perfect  means,  for 
a  perfect  purpose.     God  has  no  other  purpose,  no  other 


106  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

means,  no  other  material,  no  other  motive.  He  is  the 
infinite  power,  wisdom,  justice,  love,  and  is  security  for 
the  ultimate  welfare  of  the  sparrow  that  falls,  —  for 
mankind  groping  its  dim  and  perilous  way,  for  you  and 
me  darkly  feeling  our  way  along,  often  falling  into  pain, 
want,  misery,  and  sin.  God  as  cause,  and  God  as  provi- 
dence has  still  means  to  bring  us  back,  and  lead  us 
home.  I  have  a  natural,  unalienable  right  to  the  provi- 
dence of  the  infinite  God  ;  this  providence  is  the  duty 
of  God,  inseparable  from  his  infinity.  If  I  am  sure  that 
God  is  infinite,  then  all  else  that  is  good  I  am  sure  of ; 
for  everything  which  God  makes  is  stamped  by  his  hand 
with  an  unalienable  right  to  him  as  infinite  cause  and 
infinite  providence. 

As  God  was  present  at  the  creation  of  matter  and  of 
mankind,  present  with  all  his  infinite  perfection,  and 
active  therewith,  —  so  is  he  present  and  active  with  me 
to-day  with  all  his  infinite  perfections  ;  then  as  cause,  so 
now  as  providence.  And  do  you  think  the  imiverse  will 
fail  of  its  purpose,  with  infinite  God  as  its  providence 
and  its  cause  ?  Do  you  think  any  nation,  any  single 
human  soul,  can  ever  fail  of  achieving  this  ultimate 
bliss,  with  infinite  God  as  its  cause  and  infinite  God  as 
its  providence  ?  Why,  so  long  as  God  is  God,  it  is  im- 
possible that  his  motive  and  purpose  should  fail  to  de- 
sign good  for  all  and  each,  or  his  materials  and  means 
fail  to  achieve  that  ultimate  good. 

Well,  since  these  things  are  so,  how  beautiful  appears 
the  material  world  !  There  is  no  fortuitous  concourse 
of  atoms,  which  the  atheist  talks  of  ;  there  is  no  uni- 
verse of  selfishness,  no  grim  despot  who  grinds  the 
world  under  his  heels  and  then  spurns  it  off  to  hell,  as 
the  popular  theology  scares  us  withal.  Everything  is 
a  thought  of  infinite  God ;  and  in  studying  the  move- 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  107 

ments  of  the  solar  system,  or  the  composition  of  an 
ultimate  cell  arrested  in  a  crystal,  developed  in  a  plant, 
in  tracing  the  grains  of  phosphorus  in  the  brain  of  man, 
or  in  studying  the  atoms  whicli  compose  the  fusel-oil  in 
a  drop  of  ether,  or  the  powers  and  action  thereof,  —  I 
am  studying  the  thought  of  the  infinite  God.  The  uni- 
verse is  his  scripture,  —  nature  the  prose,  and  man  the 
poetry  of  God.  The  world  is  a  volume  holier  than  the 
Bible,  old  as  creation.  What  history,  what  psalms,  what 
prophecy  therein !  what  canticles  of  \o\q  to  beast  and 
man !  — not  the  "  Wisdom  of  Solomon,"  as  in  this  Apoc- 
rypha, but  the  wisdom  of  God,  written  out  in  the  great 
canon  of  the  universe. 

Then,  when  I  see  the  suffering  of  animals,  —  the 
father-alligator  eating  up  his  sons  and  daughters,  and 
the  mother-alligator  seeking  to  keep  them  from  his  jaws, 
—  when  I  see  the  sparrow  falling  at  a  dandy's  shot,  I 
know  that  these  things  have  been  provided  for  by  the 
God  of  the  alligator  and  the  sparrow,  and  that  the  uni- 
verse is  lodged  as  collateral  security  to  insure  bliss  to 
every  sparrow  that  falls. 

From  this  point  of  view  how  beautiful  appears  the 
world  of  man !  When  I  look  on  the  whole  history  of 
man,  —  man  as  a  savage,  as  a  barbarian,  as  half-civil- 
ized or  as  civilized,  feudal  or  commercial,  fighting  with 
all  the  forces  which  chemistry  and  mechanical  science 
can  offer,  and  suffering  from  want,  war,  ignorance,  from 
sin  in  all  its  thousand  forms,  from  despotic  oppression 
in  Russia,  democratic  oppression  in  America  ;  when  I 
see  the  tyranny  of  the  feudal  baron  in  other  times,  with 
his  acres  and  his  armies,  —  of  the  feudal  capitalist  now- 
a-days,  the  commercial  baron,  with  notes  at  cent  per 
cent ;  when  I  see  the  hyena  of  the  desert  stealing  his 
prey  in  an  Abyssinian  town,  and  the  hyena  of  the  city 


108  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

kidnapping  a  man  in  Boston, — when  I  see  all  this,  I  say 
the  thing  is  not  hopeless.  Oh,  no !  it  is  hopeful.  God 
knew  it  all  at  the  beginning,  as  perfect  cause  ;  cared  for 
it  all,  as  perfect  providence,  with  perfect  motive,  pur- 
pose, material,  means  ;  will  achieve  at  last  ultimate  wel- 
fare for  the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed. 

I  see  the  individual  suffering  from  want,  ignorance, 
and  oppression,  —  the  public  woe  which  blackens  the 
countenance  of  men ;  the  sorrow  which  with  private 
tooth  giiaAvs  the  heart  of  Ellen  or  William  ;  the  sin 
which  puts  out  the  eyes  of  Cain  or  George.  Can  I  fear  ? 
Oh,  no !  though  the  worm  of  sorrow  bore  into  my  own 
heart,  I  cannot  fear.  The  infinite  God,  with  infinite 
power,  wisdom,  justice,  holiness,  and  love,  knew  it  all, 
and  made  the  nature  of  Ellen  and  William,  of  Cain  and 
George,  and  controls  their  circumstances,  so  that  by 
their  action  and  the  action  of  the  world  of  man  and  the 
world  of  matter,  the  perfect  motive  and  the  perfect 
means  shall  achieve  the  perfect  purpose  of  the  infinite 
loving-kindness  of  God. 

Then  how  grand  is  human  destination !  ay,  your  des- 
tination and  mine !  There  is  no  chance  ;  it  is  direction 
which  we  did  not  see.  There  is  no  fate,  but  a  Mother's 
providence  holding  the  universe  in  her  lap,  warming 
each  soul  with  her  own  breath,  and  feeding  it  from  her 
own  bosom  with  everlasting  life. 

In  times  past  there  is  evil  which  I  cannot  understand ; 
in  times  present  evil  which  I  cannot  solve,  —  sujffering 
for  mankind,  for  each  nation,  for  you  and  me,  sufferings, 
follies,  sins.  I  know  they  were  all  foreseen  by  the  in- 
finite wisdom  of  God, —  all  provided  for  by  his  infinite 
power  and  justice  ;  and  his  infinite  love  shall  bring  us 
all  to  bliss,  not  a  soul  left  behind,  not  a  sparrow  lost. 
The  means  I  know  not ;  the  end  I  am  sure  of. 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  109 

"  Whether  I  fly  with  angels,  fall  with  dust, 
Thy  hands  made  both,  and  I  am  there; 
Thy  power  and  love,  my  love  and  trust, 
Make  one  place  everywhere." 

In  the  world  of  matter  there  is  the  greatest  economy 
of  force.  The  rain-drop  is  wooed  for  a  moment  into 
bridal  beauty  by  some  enamored  ray  of  light,  then  feeds 
the  gardener's  violet,  or  moves  the  grindstone  in  the 
farmer's  mill,  —  serving  alike  the  turn  of  beauty  and  of 
use.  Nothing  is  in  vain ;  all  things  are  manifold  in  use. 
"  A  rose,  beside  his  beauty,  is  a  cure."  The  ocean  is 
but  the  chemist's  sink,  which  holds  the  rinsings  of  the 
world ;  and  everything  washed  off  from  earth  was  what 
the  land  needed  to  void,  the  sea  to  take.  All  things  are 
two-fold ;  matter  is  doubly  winged,  with  beauty  and 
with  use. 

"  Nothing  hath  got  so  far 
But  man  hath  caught  and  kept  it  as  his  prey; 

His  eyes  dismount  the  highest  star; 

He  is  in  little  all  the  sphere. 
Herbs  gladly  cure  our  flesh,  because  that  they 

Find  their  acquaintance  there. 

"For  us  the  winds  do  blow, 
The  earth  doth  rest,  heaven  move,  and  fountains  flow; 

Nothing  we  see  but  means  our  good, 

As  our  delight  or  as  our  treasure  ; 
The  whole  is  either  our  cupboard  of  food, 

Or  cabinet  of  pleasure. 

"  The  stars  have  us  to  bed; 
Night  draws  the  curtain,  which  the  sun  withdraws; 

Music  and  light  attend  our  head. 

All  things  unto  our  flesh  are  kind 
In  their  descent  and  being;  to  our  mind 

In  their  ascent  and  cause." 

And  do  you  then  believe  that  the  great  God,  whose  motto 
"Waste  not,  want  not,"  is  pictured   and   practised  on 


110  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

earth  and  sea  and  sky,  is  prodigal  of  human  suffering, 
human  woe  ?  Every  tear-drop  which  sorrow  has  wrung 
from  some  poor  negro's  eye ;  every  sigh,  every  prayer 
of  grief,  each  groan  wliich  the  exile  puts  up  in  our  own 
land,  and  the  groan  which  the  American  exile  puts  up 
in  Canada,  —  while  his  tears  shed  for  his  wife  and  child 
smarting  in  the  tropics  are  turned  to  ice  before  they 
touch  the  wintry  ground,  —  has  its  function  in  the  great 
chemistry  of  our  Father's  world.  These  things  were 
known  by  God ;  and  he  will  bring  every  exile,  every 
wanderer,  in  his  arms,  —  the  great  men  not  forgot,  the 
little  not  less  blest,  —  and  bear  them  rounding  home 
from  bale  to  bliss,  to  give  to  each  the  welfare  which  his 
nature  needs  to  give  and  ours  to  take. 

The  atheist  looks  out  on  a  here  without  a  hereafter, 
a  body  without  a  soul,  a  world  without  a  heaven,  a 
universe  with  no  God ;  and  he  must  needs  fold  his  arms 
in  despair,  and  dwindle  down  into  the  material  selfish- 
ness of  a  cold  and  sullen  heart.  The  popular  theologian 
looks  out  on  the  world,  and  sees  a  body  blasted  by  a 
soul,  a  here  undermined  by  a  hereafter  of  hell,  arched 
over  with  a  little  paltry  sounding-board  of  heaven, 
whence  the  elect  may  look  over  the  edge  and  rejoice  in 
the  writhings  of  the  worms  unpitied  beneath  their  feet. 
He  looks  out,  and  sees  a  grim  and  revengeful  and  evil 
God.  Such  is  his  sad  whim.  But  the  man  with  pure 
theism  in  his  heart  looks  out  on  the  world,  and  there  is 
the  infinite  God  everywhere  as  perfect  cause,  everywhere 
as  perfect  providence,  transcending  all,  yet  immanent 
in  each,  with  perfect  power,  wisdom,  justice,  holiness, 
and  love,  securing  perfect  welfare  unto  each  and  all. 

On  the  shore  of  time,  where  Atheism  sat  in  despair, 
and  where  Theology  howled  with  delight  at  its  dream  of 
hell  all  crowded  with  torment  at  the  end,  —  there  sits 


SPECULATIVE  THEISM.  Ill 

Theism.  Before  it  passes  on  the  stream  of  human  his- 
tory, rolling  its  volumed  waters  gathered  from  all  lands, 
—  Ethiopian,  Malay,  Tartar,  Caucasian,  American,  — 
from  each  nation,  tribe,  and  family  of  men  ;  and  it 
comes  from  the  infinite  God,  its  perfect  cause  ;  it  rolls 
on  its  waters  by  the  infinite  providence,  its  perfect  pro- 
tector. He  knew  at  creation  the  history  of  empires, 
these  lesser  dimples  on  the  stream  ;  of  Ellen  and  Wil- 
liam, Cain  and  George,  the  bubbles  on  the  water's  face. 
He  provided  for  them  all,  so  that  not  a  dimple  deepens 
and  whirls  away,  not  a  bubble  breaks,  but  the  perfect 
providence  foresaw  and  fore-cared  for  it  all.  God  is  on 
the  shore  of  the  stream  of  human  history,  —  infinite 
power,  wisdom,  justice,  love ;  God  is  in  the  air  over  it, 
where  floats  the  sparrow  that  fell,  falling  to  its  bliss,  — 
in  the  waters,  in  every  dimple,  in  each  bubble,  in  each 
atom  of  every  drop.  And  at  the  end  the  stream  falls 
into  the  sea,  —  that  Amazon  of  human  history,  under 
the  line  of  providence,  on  the  equator  of  the  world, — 
falls  into  the  great  ocean  of  eternity  ;  and  not  a  dimple 
that  deepens  and  whirls  away,  not  a  bubble  that  breaks, 
not  a  single  atom  of  a  drop,, is  lost.  All  fall  into  the 
ocean  of  blessedness  which  is  the  bosom  of  love ;  and 
then  the  rush  of  many  waters  sings  out  this  psalm  from 
human  nature  and  from  human  history,  "  If  God  is  for 
us,  who  can  be  against  us  ? " 


112  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


A  SEEMOK  OF  PEOVIDEN"CE. 

God  will  provide.  —  Gen.  xxii.  8. 

In  a  previous  sermon  I  have  already  spoken  of  the 
infinite  God  as  cause,  and  as  providence.  But  the  con- 
stant relation  of  God  to  the  world  which  he  creates  and 
animates  is  a  theme  too  important  to  be  left  with  the 
merely  general  treatment  I  have  bestowed  upon  it.  Athe- 
ism and  the  popular  theology  are  both  so  unphilosophical 
in  their  views  of  the  conduct  of  the  universe  ;  the  func- 
tion ascribed  to  finite  chance,  the  Supreme  of  the  atheist, 
in  the  one  case,  and  to  the  finite  God,  the  Supreme  of 
the  theologian,  in  the  other,  is  so  at  variance  with  the 
primitive  spiritual  instincts  of  human  nature,  and  so  un- 
satisfactory to  the  enlightened  consciousness  of  cultivated 
and  religious  men,  that  the  subject  demands  a  distinct 
and  detailed  investigation  by  itself.  It  will  require  three 
sermons,  —  the  first  going  over  the  matter  very  much 
at  large  and  treating  of  Providence  in  its  universal  forms, 
the  others  relating  to  the  application  thereof  to  the  vari- 
ous phenomena  of  evil  —  to  pain  and  sin.  I  shall  not 
hesitate  to  repeat  the  same  thoughts  and  even  the  same 
forms  of  expression  previously  made  use  of  in  these  ser- 
mons. I  do  this  purposely,  both  to  avoid  the  needless 
multiplication  of  terms,  and  the  better  to  connect  this 
whole  series  of  discourses  together. 

The  notion  that  God  continually  watches  over  the 
world  and  all  of  its  contents  is  one  very  dear  to  mankind. 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  113 

It  appears  in  all  forms  of  conscious  religion.  The 
worshippers  of  a  fetich  regards  his  bit  of  wood,  or  am- 
ulet, as  a  special  Providence  working  magically  and  ex- 
ceptionally for  his  good  alone.  Polytheism  is  only  the 
splitting  up  of  the  idea  of  God  into  a  multitude  of  special 
Providences  —  each  one  a  sliver  of  deity.  Thus  man 
has  "  parcelled  out  the  glorious  name."  The  Catholic  in- 
vokes his  patron-saint,  who  is  only  a  rude  symbol  and 
mind-mark  of  that  Providence  which  is  always  at  hand. 
Pantheism  puts  a  providence  in  every  blade  of  grass,  in 
each  atom  of  matter.  The  Epicureans  of  old  time  de- 
nied the  providence  of  God,  and  dreamed  of  lazy  deities 
all  heedless  of  the  world.  But  their  theory  is  eminently 
exceptional  in  the  theological  world,  —  yet  performing  a 
service,  and  correcting  the  extravagance  of  men  who  run 
too  far,  in  devout  exaggeration  attributing  all  to  God's 
act. 

In  virtue  of  the  functions  of  providence  ascribed  to 
God,  he  is  called  by  various  names  :  Lord,  or  King,  means 
providential  master  ruling  the  world  and  exploitering  its 
inhabitants  for  his  good,  not  theirs.  That  is  the  fa- 
vorite Old  Testament  notion  and  title  of  God;  he  is 
King,  men  are  subjects,  or  even  slaves.  Yet  other  names 
therein  appear,  for  the  Old  Testament  is  not  unitary. 
In  the  New  Testament,  from  his  providential  function, 
God  is  often  called  Father,  indicating  the  affection  which 
controls  his  power,  —  that  he  is  not  merely  King  over  sub- 
jects, and  Lord  over  slaves,  but  a  Father  who  rules  his 
children  for  their  good,  restrains  that  he  may  develop, 
and  seemingly  hinders  that  he  may  really  help.  Hence, 
in  the  Old  Testament,  slaves  are  bid  to  fear  God  ;  in  the 
New  Testament,  children  are  told  to  love  him.  How- 
ever, the  New  Testament  is  not  more  unitary  in  this  re- 
spect than  the  Old,  and  the  cruel  God  appears  often  in 

8 


114  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  Gospels,  the  Epistles,  and  the  Apocalypse,  —  not  a 
Father,  but  only  a  Lord  and  King,  exploitering  a  por- 
tion of  the  human  race  with  merciless  rapacity. 

A  king  is  bound  politically  to  provide  for  his  subjects, 
inasmuch  as  he  is  king ;  political  providence  is  the  royal 
function.  A  father  is  affectionally  and  paternally  bound 
to  provide  for  his  children,  inasmuch  as  he  is  father ;  af- 
fectional  providence  is  the  paternal  function.  But  as  the 
father,  or  the  king,  is  limited  in  his  powers,  so  the  pa- 
ternal or  political  function  is  limited ;  for  duty  does  not 
transcend  the  power  to  do.  Their  providence  is  neces- 
sarily imperfect,  not  reaching  to  all  persons  in  the  king- 
dom, or  to  all  actions  of  their  subjects.  A  good  king 
and  a  good  father,  both,  wish  to  do  a  good  deal  more  for 
their  charge  than  it  is  possible  for  them  to  do.  Their 
desirable  is  limited  by  their  possible. 

The  infinite  God  is  infinitely  bound  to  provide  for  his 
creatures,  inasmuch  as  he  is  infinite  God :  infinite  provi- 
dence is  the  divine  function,  —  his  function  as  God. 

A  duty  involves  reciprocal  obligation ;  a  right  is  the 
correlative  of  a  duty.  There  is  a  human  duty  to  obey, 
reverence,  and  love  God,  with  our  finite  nature ;  but  also, 
and  just  as  much,  is  there  a  human  right  to  the  protec- 
tion of  God.  So  there  is  a  divine  duty  on  God's  part, 
of  providence  toward  man,  as  well  as  a  divine  right  of 
obedience  from  man.  I  mean  to  say,  as  it  belongs  to 
the  finite  constitution  of  man  to  obey,  reverence,  and  love 
God, —  the  duty  of  the  finite  toward  the  Infinite  ;  so  it 
belongs  to  the  infinite  constitution  of  God  to  provide  for 
man,  —  the  duty  of  the  Infinite  toward  the  finite.  Obe- 
dience belongs  to  man's  nature,  providence  to  God's  na- 
ture. We  have  an  unalienable  lien  upon  his  infinite 
perfection. 

I  know  men  often  talk  as  if  God  were  not  amenable 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  115 

to  his  own  justice,  and  could  with  equal  right  care  for 
his  creatures  or  neglect  them ;  that  his  almighty  power 
makes  him  capable  of  immeasurable  caprice,  and  liber- 
ates him  from  all  relation  to  eternal  right.  Hence  it  is 
often  taught  that  God  may  consistently  make  a  vessel 
of  honor  or  of  dishonor  out  of  this  human  clay,  as  the 
potter  does ;  or  may  consistently  jest  with  his  material, 
waste  it,  throw  it  away,  destroy  it  as  the  potter's  appren- 
tice does  for  sport  in  some  moment  of  caprice  ;  or  may 
break  the  finished  vessel,  as  the  potter  himself  does  when 
drunk  or  angry.  In  virtue  of  this  general  notion,  it  is 
popularly  taught  in  all  Christendom,  that  God  will  thus 
waste  some  of  his  human  clay,  casting  human  souls  into 
endless  misery  ;  and  in  the  greater  part  of  Christendom  it 
is  taught  that  he  will  destroy  the  majority  of  mankind  in 
this  way ;  that  he  has  a  natural  right  to  do  so,  and  man 
lias  no  right  to  anything  but  the  caprice  of  God. 

This  doctrine  is  odious  to  me ;  and  I  see  not  how  men 
can  entertain  such  an  idea  of  God  and  still  call  him  good. 
This  doctrine  is  equally  detestable  whether  you  consider 
it  in  relation  to  the  condition  of  men  consequent  thereon, 
or  to  the  character  of  God  which  causes  that  condition. 
This  false  idea  tends  to  unsettle  men's  moral  convictions. 
The  consequence  appears  in  various  forms.  The  State 
teaches  in  practice  that  national  might  is  national  right ; 
that  so  far  as  the  State  is  concerned  there  is  no  right  and 
no  wrong;  whatever  it  may  will  is  justice,  the  nation 
not  amenable  to  moral  law.  The  Church  theoretically 
teaches  that  infinite  might  is  infinite  right ;  that  God 
repudiates  his  own  justice ;  that  so  far  as  God  is  con- 
cerned there  is  no  right,  no  wrong;  with  him  caprice 
stands  for  reason.  The  atheist  agrees  with  the  theolo- 
gians in  this,  only  he  rejects  the  ecclesiastical  phrase- 
ology, knowing  no  God. 


116  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

I  will  not  speak  of  mercy,  commonly  conceived  of  as 
the  limitation  of  might,  strong  manly  justice  obstructed 
by  womanly  sentiment  and  weakness.  But  speaking  of 
bare  justice  I  say,  that  from  the  idea  of  God  as  infinite, 
it  follows  that  he  has  no  right  to  call  into  being  a  single 
soul  and  make  that  soul  miserable  for  its  whole  life  ;  or 
to  inflict  upon  it  any  absolute  and  unrecompensed  evil ; 
no  right  to  call  into  life  a  single  worm  and  make  that 
worm's  life  a  curse  to  itself.  It  is  irreverent  and  impious 
to  teach  that  he  could  do  this.  It  is  a  plain  contradic- 
tion to  the  idea  of  God.  It  is  as  impossible  for  him  to 
create  anything  from  an  imperfect  motive,  for  an  imper- 
fect purpose,  of  imperfect  material, or  as  imperfect  means, 
as  it  would  be  for  him  to  make  right  wrong,  the  same 
thing  to  be  and  not  to  be,  or  one  and  one  not  two,  but 
two  thousand.  I  as  finite  man  am  amenable  to  the  laws 
of  my  finite,  human  nature  ;  he  as  infinite  God  to  the 
laws  of  his  infinite,  divine  nature.  To  say  that  God  has 
a  right  or  a  desire  to  repudiate  his  infinite  justice,  that 
he  will  do  it,  or  that  as  God  he  can,  is  as  absurd  as  to 
say  that  he  will  and  can  make  one  and  one  two  thousand 
and  not  two.  And  to  me  it  seems  as  impious  as  to  say 
there  is  no  God.  Indeed  it  is  a  denial  of  God,  not  a 
negation  of  his  existence,  but  of  the  very  substance  of 
his  being. 

From  the  infinite  perfection  of  God  it  follows  that  his 
providence  is  infinite,  that  is,  completely  perfect  and  per- 
fectly complete  ;  that  as  cause  and  providence  he  works 
continually  to  bless  his  creatures,  and  only  to  bless  them. 

This  must  be  so  ;  for  the  opposite  could  only  come 
from  a  defect  of  wisdom — he  did  not  know  how  to  bring 
about  their  welfare  ;  from  a  defect  of  justice  —  he  did 
not  will  their  welfare  ;  from  a  defect  of  love  —  he  did 
not  desire  it ;  from  a  defect  of  power  —  he  could  not 


A    SEE  .AWN  OF  PROVIDENCE.  117 

bring  it  to  pass  ;  from  a  defect  of  holiness  —  he  would 
not  use  the  power,  love,  justice,  and  wisdom  for  his 
creatures'  sake.  This  might  be  said  of  conceptions  of 
God  as  finite,  —  of  Baal,  Melkarth,  Jupiter,  Odin,  Je- 
hovah, —  never  of  the  infinite  God  ;  he,  inasmuch  as  he 
is  God,  must  exercise  an  infinite  providence  over  each 
and  all  his  works.  The  universe,  that  is,  the  sum  total 
of  created  matter  and  created  mind,  must  be  perfectly 
fitted  to  achieve  the  purpose  which  God  designs ;  that 
must  be  a  benevolent  purpose,  involving  the  greatest 
possible  bliss  for  each  and  all,  for  the  infinite  God  could 
desire  no  other  end. 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  material  part  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  its  spiritual  part  also,  must  be  perfectly  adapted 
to  this  end.  A  perfect  whole,  material  or  spiritual,  con- 
sists of  perfect  parts,  each  answering  its  several  purpose, 
and  so  the  whole  fulfilling  the  purpose  of  the  whole.  No 
part  must  be  lost ;  no  part  absolutely  sacrificed  to  the 
good  of  another,  or  of  all  others,  and  to  its  own  harm 
and  ruin. 

All  this  follows  unavoidably  from  the  idea  of  God  as 
infinitely  perfect.  Starting  from  this  point  all  seems 
plain.  But  concrete  things  often  seem  imperfect  be- 
cause they  do  not  completely  serve  our  transient  purpose, 
while  we  know  not  the  eternal  purposes  of  God.  We 
look  at  the  immediate  and  transient  result,  not  at  the 
ultimate  and  permanent.  Thus  the  mariner  cannot 
come  to  port  by  reason  of  the  storm  and  rocks  which 
obstruct  his  course ;  he  thinks  the  weather  imperfect, 
the  world  not  well  made  ;  and  you  often  hear  men  say, 
"  How  beautiful  the  world  would  be  if  there  were  no 
storms,  no  hurricanes,  no  thunder  and  lightning."  While, 
if  we  could  overlook  the  cosmic  forces  which  make  up 
the  material  world,  we  should   see   that   every  actual 


118  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

storm  and  every  rock  was  needful ;  and  the  world  would 
not  be  perfect  and  accomplish  its  function  had  not  each 
been  just  in  its  proper  time  and  place. 

An  oak-tree  in  the  woods  appears  quite  imperfect. 
The  leaves  are  coiled  up  and  spoiled  by  the  leaf-roller ; 
cut  to  pieces  by  the  tailor-beetle  ;  eaten  by  the  hag-moth 
and  the  polyphemus,  the  slug-caterpillar  and  her  numer- 
ous kindred  ;  the  twigs  are  sucked  by  the  white-lined 
tree-hopper,  or  cut  off  by  the  oak-pruner  ;  large  limbs 
are  broken  down  by  the  seventeen-year  locust ;  the  horn- 
bug,  the  curculio,  and  the  timber-beetle  eat  up  its  w^ood  ; 
the  gad-fly  punctures  leaf  and  bark, converting  the  forces 
of  the  tree  to  that  insect's  use  ;  the  grub  lives  in  the 
young  acorn  ;  fly-catchers  are  on  its  leaves  :  a  spider 
weaves  his  web  from  twig  to  twig  ;  caterpillars  of  various 
denominations  gnaw  its  tender  shoots  ;  the  creeper  and 
the  wood-pecker  bore  through  the  bark  ;  squirrels,  — 
striped,  flying,  red,  and  gray,  —  have  gnawed  into  its 
limbs  and  made  their  nests  ;  the  toad  has  a  hole  in  a 
flaw  of  its  base  ;  the  fox  has  cut  asunder  its  fibrous  roots 
in  digging  his  burrow  ;  the  bear  dwells  in  its  trunk  which 
w^orms,  emmets,  bees,  and  countless  insects  have  helped 
to  hollow  ;  ice  and  the  winds  of  winter  have  broken  off 
full  many  a  bough.  How  imperfect  and  incomplete  the 
oak-tree  looks,  so  broken,  crooked,  cragged,  gnarled,  and 
grim  !  The  carpenter  cannot  get  a  beam,  the  millwright 
a  shaft,  or  the  ship-builder  a  solid  knee  for  his  purpose  ; 
even  the  common  woodman  spares  that  tree  as  not  worth 
felling  ;  it  only  cumbers  the  ground.  But  it  has  served 
its  complicated  purpose,  —  given  board  and  lodging  to  all 
these  creatures,  from  the  ephemeral  fly,  joying  in  its 
transient  summer,  to  the  brawny  bear  for  many  a  winter 
hibernating  in  its  trunk.  It  has  been  a  great  woodland 
caravansary,  even  a  tavern  and  chateau,  to  all  that  hete- 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  119 

rogeneous  swarm  ;  and  though  no  man  but  a  painter 
thinks  it  a  perfect  tree, —  and  he  only  because  the  pic- 
turesque thing  serves  his  special  purpose,  —  no  doubt 
the  good  God  is  quite  contented  with  his  oak,  and  says, 
"  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant."  He  designed 
it  to  serve  these  manifold  uses,  and  to  furnish  beauty  for 
the  painter's  picture  and  meaning  for  the  preacher's 
speech.  Doubtless  it  enters  into  the  joy  of  its  Lord, 
having  completely  served  his  purpose  ;  He  wanted  a 
caravansary  and  chateau  for  those  uncounted  citizens. 
To  judge  of  it  we  must  look  at  all  these  ends,  and  also 
at  the  condition  of  the  soil  that  had  a  superabundance 
of  the  matter  whereof  oak-trees  are  made. 

We  commonly  look  on  the  world  as  the  carpenter  and 
millwright  on  that  crooked  oak,  and  because  it  does  not 
serve  our  turn  completely  we  think  it  an  imperfect  world. 
Thus  men  grumble  at  the  rocky  shores  of  New  England, 
its  sterile  soil,  its  winters  long  and  hard,  its  cold  and 
biting  spring,  its  summers  brief  and  burning,  and  seem 
to  think  the  world  is  badly  put  together.  They  complain 
of  wild  beasts  in  the  forests,  of  monsters  in  the  sea,  of 
toads  and  snakes,  vipers  and  many  a  loathsome  thing, 
hideous  to  our  imperfect  eye.  How  little  do  we  know! 
A  world  without  an  alligator,  or  a  rattle-snake,  a  hyena, 
or  a  shark,  would  doubtless  be  a  very  imperfect  world. 
The  good  God  has  something  for  each  of  these  to  do, — 
a  place  for  them  all  at  his  table,  and  a  pillow  for  every 
one  of  them  in  Nature's  bed. 

Though  theologians  talk  of  the  infinite  goodness  of 
God  and  the  perfection  of  his  providence,  they  have  yet 
a  certain  belief  in  a  devil ;  even  if  it  is  not  always  a 
personal  devil,  at  any  rate  it  is  a  principle  of  absolute 
evil,  which  they  fear  will  somehow  outwit  and  override 
God,  getting  possession  of  the  world  ;  will  throw  sand 


120  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

into  the  delicate  watch-work  of  the  universe,  and  com- 
pletely thwart  the  providence  of  the  Eternal. 

This  comes  from  that  dark  notion  of  God  which  haunts 
the  theology  of  Christendom  —  yea,  of  the  Hebrew,  the 
Mahometan,  and  Hindoo  world.  It  is  painful  to  see  how 
this  notion  prevails  amongst  intelligent  and  religious 
men.  They  tell  you  of  the  greater  activity  of  the  evil 
principle  ;  they  see  it  in  the  insects  which  infest  the 
grain  and  fruit-trees  of  New  England,  forgetting  that 
God  takes  care  of  these  insects  as  well  as  of  man. 
When  we  study  deeper,  we  see  that  there  is  no  evil 
principle,  but  a  good  principle,  so  often  misunderstood 
by  men.  If  we  start  with  the  idea  of  the  infinite  God 
we  know  the  purpose  is  good  before  we  comprehend  the 
means  thereto. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  men  assert  the  doctrine 
of  God's  providence,  two  philosophical  and  antagonist 
doctrines  thereof. 

I.  One  makes  God  the  only  will  in  creation ;  animals 
are  mere  machines,  wholly  subordinate  to  their  organi- 
zation ;  man  is  also  a  mere  machine,  wholly  subordinate 
to  his  organization.  Thus  all  the  action  in  the  world, 
material  and  spiritual,  is  the  action  of  God.  The  uni- 
verse consists  of  two  parts,  one  real,  the  other  phenom- 
enal. First,  there  is  God  the  actor  ;  next,  a  parcel  of 
tools  or  puppets,  wholly  passive,  having  no  will  or  life 
of  their  own  ;  and  with  these  God  works  or  plays.  On 
this  supposition  his  providence  has  a  clean  sweep  of  the 
universe  :  every  sentiment,  good  or  bad  ;  every  thought, 
true  or  false  ;  every  deed,  blessing  or  baneful,  is  his 
work.  The  sun  is  an  unconscious  instrument  of  God ; 
I  am  a  conscious  instrument,  but  still  a  bare  tool  in 
God's  hand,  not  a  free  agent. 

This  comprehensive  scheme,  reducing  life  to  median- 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  121 

ism,  appears  in  many  forms.  It  belont>-s  to  the  gross 
pliilosophy  of  the  materialist ;  it  is  the  cardinal  doctrine 
of  the  pantheist,  material  or  spiritual,  the  most  offensive 
and  dangerous  of  his  doctrines.  It  is  the  great  idea  with 
the  fatalists  of  all  classes.  But  it  appears  in  the  theo- 
logical sects  also,  as  well  as  in  philosophic  parties ;  for 
a  man  cannot  escape  from  his  first  principle,  neither  in 
philosophy  nor  in  theology.  It  lies  at  the  basis  of  the 
Catholic  and  Protestant  theology,  Calvin  and  d'Holbach 
agree  in  this.  The  contradiction  it  leads  to  is  plain  in 
the  preaching  and  writings  of  almost  every  Calvinistic 
or  Catholic  theologian  who  tries  to  reconcile  his  theology 
with  the  common  facts  of  consciousness.  Now  he  tells 
you.  You  must  do  for  yourself,  and  then  God  will  help 
you  ;  but  adds.  You  can  do  nothing  till  God  begins  it  for 
you.    The  popular  hymn  contains  the  same  contradiction  : 

"  Bound  on  a  voyage  of  awful  length, 
Through  dangers  little  known, 
A  stranger  to  superior  strength, 
Man  vainly  trusts  his  own. 

"  But  oars  alone  will  not  prevail 
To  reach  the  distant  coast; 
The  breath  of  heaven  must  swell  the  sail, 
Or  all  the  work  is  lost." 

But  in  Dr.  Hopkins  and  Dr.  Emmons  and  their  followers 
and  predecessors,  as  well  Protestant  as  Catholic,  this 
doctrine  is  carried  out  to  its  natural  results  :  in  defiance 
of  consciousness,  they  boldly  and  simply  declare  that 
God  is  the  direct  author  of  every  thought  and  feeling, 
will  and  deed.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  men  reach  the 
same  result,  starting  from  opposite  points  ;  curious  to 
see  how  antinomianism  —  Catholic  or  Protestant  — 
arrives  at  the  most  objectionable  characteristic  of  pan- 
theism, which  it  yet  so  abhors. 


122  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

On  this  hypothesis  the  function  of  Providence  appears 
quite  simple ;  all  action  is  God's  action.  The  phenom- 
enal actor  may  be  human,  but  the  only  real  agent  is 
God.  For  example,  Cain  kills  Abel  with  a  club,  the 
spite  of  his  heart  flashing  from  his  angry  eye.  That  is 
the  phenomenon.  But  the  fact  is,  God  killed  Abel  with 
Cain's  arm  ;  Cain  and  the  club  were  equally  passive  in- 
struments in  the  hand  of  God.  Here  the  intervention 
of  Cain,  with  his  malicious  sentiment  and  flashing  eye, 
is  only  a  part  of  the  stage  machinery,  for  theatrical 
effect,  but  the  contriver  and  worker  of  it  all  is  God. 
His  ways  are  simple ;  matter  and  man  have  really 
nought  to  do.  This  doctrine  shocks  common-sense,  and 
is  at  war  with  the  consciousness  of  every  man.  It  is 
eminently  at  war  with  religious  feeling ;  for  on  this  sup- 
position actual  suffering  and  sin  are  of  no  human  value ; 
they  lead  to  nothing  ;  it  is  in  vain  for  tlie  grass  to  grow, 
the  human  hay  is  cut  and  dried  by  foreordination. 

II.  The  other  doctrine  of  Providence  makes  man's 
will  free,  absolutely  free,  —  not  at  all  conditioned  by  cir- 
cumstances, bodily  organization,  and  the  like.  The  phi- 
losophical question  of  freedom  and  necessity  I  do  not 
design  to  enter  upon.  It  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
questions  in  metaphysics,  and  I  certainly  am  not  able 
to  solve  the  riddle.  There  are  difficulties  in  either 
hypothesis,  and  I  have  not  psychological  science  enough 
to  explain  them  in  the  court  of  intellect.  Philosophy  is 
intellect  working  in  the  mode  of  art ;  common-sense  is 
intellect  working  after  its  natural  instinct,  not  in  the 
technical  mode  of  art.  Philosophy  demonstrates  ;  com- 
mon-sense convinces  without  demonstration.  In  default 
of  philosophy,  we  must  follow  common  sense  ;  that  does 
not  settle  the  matter  scientifically  and  ultimately,  but 
practically   and    provisionally,   subject    to    revision   in 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  123 

another  court.  But  common-sense  decides  in  favor  of 
freedom.  Every  man  acts  on  that  supposition,  and  sup- 
poses that  other  men  are  likewise  free.  Courts  of  law 
proceed  on  this  hypothesis  ;  public  opinion  distributes 
praise  or  blame ;  my  own  conscience  commends,  or  else 
cries  out  against  me.     I  am  conscious  of  freedom. 

But  a  little  experience  shows  that  this  freedom  has  its 
limitations  and  is  not  absolute.  It  is  conditioned  on 
every  side,  —  by  my  outward  circumstances,  the  events 
of  my  history,  the  accidents  of  education,  the  character 
of  my  parents  and  daily  associates ;  by  the  constitution 
of  my  body,  —  its  varying  health,  hunger  and  thirst, 
youth,  manhood,  and  old  age.  In  comparison  with  a 
shad-fish,  or  a  blackbird,  Socrates  has  a  good  deal  of 
freedom,  and  is  not  so  much  subordinate  to  his  organi- 
zation or  his  circumstances  as  they  ;  but  in  comparison 
with  the  infinite  freedom  of  God  his  volitiveness  is  little. 
To  speak  figuratively,  it  seems  as  if  man  was  tied  by  two 
tethers,  —  the  one  of  historic  circumstance,  the  other  of 
his  physical  organization,  —  fastened  at  opposite  points ; 
but  the  cord  is  elastic,  and  may  be  lengthened  by  use,  or 
shortened  by  abuse  and  neglect ;  and  within  the  variable 
limit  of  his  tether  man  has  freedom,  but  cannot  go  be- 
yond it.  Still  further,  to  carry  out  the  figure,  one  man 
gets  entangled  in  his  confining  line  and  does  not  use  half 
the  freedom  he  might  have  ;  another  continually  extends 
it  and  becomes  more  free. 

It  is  plain,  that  however  these  circumstances  may  or 
may  not  limit  our  ideas,  or  will,  they  must  determine 
the  form  of  our  conceptions  and  our  power  to  execute 
them  in  works. 

On  the  hypothesis  that  man  is  absolutely  or  partially 
free,  the  function  of  Providence  is  much  more  complica- 
ted.    There  are  primary  and  secondary  powers  ;  there 


124  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

are  other  agents  beside  God,  using  the  power  derived 
from  him  to  work  with  after  their  own  caprice  ;  so  God 
acts  in  part  by  means  of  the  free  will  of  men.  This 
theory  seems  to  me  conformable  to  common-sense  and 
common  consciousness,  and  is  perhaps  the  most  philo- 
sophic of  any  that  has  yet  been  arrived  at. 

So  much  for  these  two  theories  of  Providence. 

There  are  two  modes  in  which  God's  providence  is 
commonly  supposed  to  act,  —  namely,  the  general  and 
the  special. 

God's  general  providence,  it  is  said,  takes  in  the 
greater  part  of  cases  in  the  material  and  spiritual  world, 
and  provides  for  them.  In  his  general  providence,  God 
is  thought  to  accomplish  his  function  by  general  laws, 
which  are  a  constant  mode  of  operation,  representing  the 
continual  and  inferior  activity  of  God ;  but  this  does  not 
extend  to  all  cases.  God's  special  providence  attends  to 
particular  cases,  not  otherwise  provided  for,  and  disposes 
of  them.  One  is  a  court  of  common  or  statute  law,  the 
other  a  court  of  equity.  In  special  providence  God  is 
supposed  not  to  act  by  general  laws  but  without  them, 
or  against  them.  All  normal  action  in  nature  comes 
from  general  providence ;  all  miracles  from  special  prov- 
idence. Thus  a  freshet  in  the  Connecticut,  and  the 
annual  rising  of  the  Nile,  belong  under  the  general  prov- 
idence of  God  and  come  by  the  action  of  steadfast  laws  ; 
but  the  miraculous  flood  in  the  time  of  Noah  came  of 
God's  special  providence,  having  no  cause  in  nature, 
only  in  the  caprice  of  God.  This  form  of  special  provi- 
dence in  nature  is  known  only  to  the  theologian,  not  to 
the  man  of  science. 

To  take  examples  from  human  affairs,  it  is  main- 
tained that  God's  general  providence  waited  on  the  whole 
human  race,  but  the  Hebrews  were  under  his  special 


A    SERMON   OF  PROVIDENCE.  125 

providence,  and  he  went  so  far  in  tlieir  case  as  to  make 
a  contract  with  Abraham,  which  St.  Paul  thought  he  was 
under  an  obligation  to  keep,  and  could  not  invalidate. 

All  men  in  general  are  under  the  general  providence, 
but  Christians  enjoy  the  special  providence  of  God,  or  as 
Dr.  Watts  has  it, 

"  The  whole  creation  is  thy  charge, 
But  saints  are  thy  peculiar  care." 

It  is  said  that  the  forms  of  religion  in  China,  India, 
Egypt,  Greece  and  Mexico,  came  by  the  general  provi- 
dence of  God;_  growing  out  of  the  nature  of  man,  or  com- 
ing at  the  instigation  of  the  devil,  having  their  route  in 
the  human  or  the  infernal  nature  ;  while  the  Hebrew 
and  the  Christian  forms  of  religion  came  by  his  special 
providence,  started  in  God,  and  were  miraculously  trans- 
planted to  human  soil. 

Certain  Christians  are  thought  still  more  eminently 
under  God's- special  providence.  They  are  the  "  elect," 
and  the  world  was  made  for  them.  The  Mahometan 
thinks  the  same  of  his  form  of  religion  and  of  the  elect 
Mussulmans.  Christian  theologians  say  that  saints,  the 
elect,  share  the  "  covenanted  mercies  "  of  God  and  are 
favorites,  enjoying  his  special  providence,  while  the  rest 
of  men  are  left  to  his  "  uncovenanted  mercies,"  and  have 
need  to  tremble.  The  governor  of  Massachusetts,  a  few 
years  ago,  in  his  proclamation  for  a  day  of  fasting,  in- 
vited men  to  pray  God  to  bless  the  whole  United  States 
in  general,  but  to  have  "  a  special  care  of  the  good  State 
of  Massachusetts."  The  Hebrews,  thinking  God  cared 
nothing  for  the  Gentiles,  praised  him,  saying,  "  Thou 
didst  march  through  the  land  in  indignation.  Thou 
didst  thrash  the  heathen  in  anger ;  thou  wentcst  forth 
for  the  salvation  of  thy  people ; "  "  Thou  didst  drive  out 
the  heathen  with  thine  hand." 


126  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

So  Christians  think  God  has  his  favorites  amongst 
men,  and,  like  a  partial  father,  takes  better  care  of  some 
of  his  children  than  of  the  rest;  you  and  I  share  his 
common  concern  and  are  under  his  general  laws  ;  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  had  his  special  care  and  was  under  special 
laws.  It  would  be  thought  a  great  impiety  to  suppose 
that  God  felt  as  much  concern  for  Judas  as  for  Jesus, 
and  would  no  more  suffer  the  son  of  Simon  to  be  ulti- 
mately lost,  than  the  son  of  Mary.  Yet  if  you  think 
twice  you  will  see  that  the  impiety  is  on  the  other  side  ; 
for  if  God  does  not  care  as  much  for  Iscariot  as  for 
Christ,  as  much  desiring  and  insuring  the  ultimate  tri- 
umph of  the  one  as  the  other,  then  he  is  not  the  infin- 
ite Father  whose  ways  are  equal  to  all  his  cliildren,  but 
partial,  unjust,  cruel,  wicked,  and  oppressive.  You  do 
not  think  so  well  of  the  British  government  because 
it  neglects  its  feeblest  subjects,  the  laboring  millions, 
making  England  the  paradise  of  the  rich  and  strong,  the 
purgatory  of  the  wise  and  good,  and  the  hell  of  the  poor 
and  weak.  You  condemn  the  government  of  the  United 
States  because  it  has  its  favorites,  and  oppresses  and  en- 
slaves the  feeblest  of  its  citizens  to  increase  the  riches  of 
indolent  and  cruel  men.  You  would  not  employ  a  school- 
master who  turned  off  the  dull  boys  and  beat  the  bad  ones, 
disposed  to  truancy  and  mischief,  driving  them  out  into 
the  streets  to  swelter  in  crime,  to  fester  in  jail,  or  rot  on 
the  gallows.  What  indignation  would  suffice  towards  a 
mother  who  neglects  a  backward  boy,  takes  no  pains  with 
the  girl  that  is  a  cripple,  or  with  a  son  who  has  an  organic 
and  hereditary  tendency  to  dissipation  and  licentiousness  ? 
I  do  not  like  to  say  a  man  is  impious  without  proof  that 
he  means  it ;  but  to  attribute  so  base  a  character  and 
such  unjust  conduct  to  God  as  you  would  not  respect  in 
a  government,  allow  in  a  schoolmaster,  or  endure  in  a 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  127 

mother,  is  thoughtless,  to  say  the  least  of  it.  But  that 
is  the  common  idea  of  God  in  the  Christian  churches, 
and  the  common  idea  of  his  providence. 

The  modern  notion  of  a  special  providence,  wherein 
God  acts  without  law  or  against  law,  is  the  most  spiritual 
and  attenuated  form  of  the  doctrine  of  miracles,  the  last 
glimmering  of  the  candle  before  it  goes  out.  Men  who 
give  up  the  miraculous  birth  of  Jesus  still  claim  that  he 
was  under  the  special  providence  of  God.  As  the  State 
has  general  laws  which  apply  well  enough  to  the  major- 
ity of  cases,  but  has  special  legislation  for  the  excep- 
tional cases  which  were  not  provided  for  by  the  general 
statutes  ;  and  as  it  has  a  jury  whose  function  is  to  deter- 
mine if  the  law  shall  punish  this  or  the  other  man  who 
has  violated  it,  —  so  the  popular  theology  teaches  that 
God's  providence  has  its  general  legislation,  which  ap- 
plies well  enough  to  the  majority  of  cases,  and  its  spe- 
cial legislation,  which  applies  only  to  the  exceptional 
cases,  with  its  particular  mercy,  which,  like  the  jury,  re- 
fuses to  execute  the  law  when  it  seems  too  hard.  For  it 
is  tacitly  taken  for  granted  by  the  popular  theology  that 
God  did  not  foresee  and  provide  for  all  the  wants  of  the 
universe,  material  or  spiritual,  but  is  sometimes  taken 
by  surprise,  things  not  turning  out  as  he  designed  or 
expected,  and  so  he  has  to  interfere  by  special  miracles, 
to  mend  his  work,  to  set  up  makeshifts  and  provisional 
expedients.  Thus  it  is  represented  that  the  loneliness  of 
Adam  in  Paradise,  his  seduction  and  fall,  the  subsequent 
wickedness  of  his  descendants,  the  transgressions  of  the 
Hebrews,  and  the  general  sinfulness  of  mankind  at  a 
later  day,  were  all  a  surprise  to  the  Creator,  things  not 
turning  out  according  to  his  thought.  New  expedients 
must  accordingly  be  devised  to  meet  the  unexpected 
emergency. 


128  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

In  like  manner  it  is  taught  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
was  under  the  special  providence  of  God ;  that  all  his- 
tory prepared  for  him  and  pointed  to  him ;  that  he  had 
a  special  mission,  while  you  and  I  are  only  under  the 
general  providence  ;  history  has  not  prepared  for  us,  does 
not  point  to  us,  and  we  have  no  special  mission,  —  in 
short,  that  Jesus  is  a  providential  man,  with  a  providen- 
tial function  and  history,  while  you  and  I  are  not  provi- 
dential men,  and  have  no  providential  history  or  function. 

This  common  theological  notion  of  the  limited  gen- 
eral providence  and  limited  special  providence  of  God 
belongs  to  the  very  substance  of  the  popular  theology, 
and  springs  from  its  idea  of  God  as  finite  in  power,  in 
wisdom,  in  justice,  and  in  love.  Some  ancient  and 
some  modern  philosophers,  seeing  the  change  and  prog- 
ress in  manifestation,  believe  there  is  a  corresponding 
change  in  the  manifestor,  and  declare  God  is  not  a  be- 
ing but  a  becoming.  The  popular  theology  has  the 
same  vice,  —  though  the  theologians  are  not  conscious 
thereof,  and  denounce  it,  — :  believing  that  God  grows 
wiser  by  experiment,  and  must  alter  his  plans.  Yet  in 
contradiction  of  their  own  statements,  they  declare  him 
without  variableness  and  shadow  of  turning ;  while  ac- 
cording to  the  popular  theology  the  history  of  God  is  a 
history  of  revolutions,  even  in  his  dealing  with  his  cho- 
sen people,  —  the  revelation  through  the  Messiah  being 
flat  opposite  to  the  revelation  through  Moses,  which  it  an- 
nuls. Pantheism  and  the  popular  theology,  hostile  as 
they  are,  agree  in  this  strange  conclusion,  the  negation 
of  the  Infinite,  and  the  affirmation  of  a  variable  God. 
The  pantheist  consciously  denies  the  one  and  affirms  the 
other,  in  laying  down  his  premises  ;  the  theologian  does 
it  unconsciously,  in  developing  his  conclusions. 

From  the  nature  of  God  as  infinite,  from  the  relation 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  129 

he  sustains  to  the  creation,  as  perfect  and  perpetual  cause 
thereof,  it  follows  that  his  providence  must  be  not  barely- 
special, —  eminently  providing  for  certain  things,  —  or 
general, —  taking  care  of  the  great  mass,  but  letting  ex- 
ceptional particulars  slip  through  his  fingers,  —  it  must 
be  universal.  It  must  extend  to  each  thing  he  has 
created,  to  all  parts  of  its  existence  and  to  every  action 
thereof.  If  it  be  not  so,  then  either  some  parts  of  crea- 
tion are  entirely  derelict  of  God,  destitute  of  liis  provi- 
dence, without  his  care,  neglected  by  him,  and  outlaws 
of  God,  put  to  the  ban  of  the  universe,  or  else  destitute 
of  his  providence  during  some  portions  of  their  existence, 
or  in  some  acts  of  their  lives.  Either  case  is  at  variance 
with  the  infinite  nature  and  function  of  God.  For  when 
the  infinite  God  created  the  universe,  it  must  have  been 
from  a  perfect  motive,  of  a  perfect  material,  for  a  perfect 
purpose,  and  as  a  perfect  means  thereto ;  and  he  must 
therefore  have  understood  it  all  completely,  in  each  of 
its  parts,  and  perfectly,  in  all  the  details  of  each  part ; 
and,  knowing  all  the  powers,  he  foreknows  all  the  actions, 
necessitated  or  contingent,  and  provides  for  each.  This 
must  be  true  of  the  universe  as  a  whole,  and  of  each 
part  thereof.  All  its  actions  must  be  thus  provided  for. 
The  laws  of  the  universe,  —  the  constant  modes  of  oper- 
ation of  the  material  or  human  forces,  —  must  be  founded 
on  this  complete  and  perfect  knowledge,  and  coextensive 
therewith,  and  be  exponents  of  that  motive  and  servants 
of  that  purpose.  This  is  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said 
the  laws  of  matter  and  of  mind  belong  to  the  nature  and 
constitution  of  matter  and  of  mind.  These  laws  are 
formed  after  a  complete  knowledge  of  all  their  properties, 
functions,  and  consequences.  Before  there  were  two 
particles  of  matter  in  existence,  the  infinite  God  must 
have  understood  the  law  of  attraction,  —  in  its  larger  form 


130  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

as  graYitation,  its  smaller  as  cohesion,  —  and  have  known 
that  thereby  the  tower  of  Siloam  would  one  day  fall  and 
slay  eighteen  men ;  that  many  a  beetling  crag  would  tum- 
ble to  the  ground,  and  Alpine  landslips  bring  thousands 
of  men  to  premature  destruction.  But  all  those  laws 
thus  made  must  coincide  with  the  motive  of  God  and  be 
means  for  his  purpose  ;  they  must  suit  the  welfare  of  the 
whole  creation  and  of  each  part  thereof.  This  must  be 
true  of  the  material  world,  which  is  unconscious  and  not 
free ;  of  the  animal  world,  which  is  not  free,  yet  partially 
conscious :  of  the  human  world,  which  is  conscious  and 
partially  free  ;  and  of  all  superhuman  worlds,  with  higher 
degrees  of  consciousness  and  freedom. 

To  this  universal  extent  must  all  things  be  under  the 
providence  of  God;  to  this  extent  his  constant  modes 
of  operation  must  needs  reach  out. 

Then  if  you  look  at  the  relation  of  God  to  any  one 
thing,  —  say  the  grub  of  a  buprestian  beetle  boring  into 
the  bough  of  the  oak  I  just  now  spoke  of,  —  it  seems  as  if 
God  made  the  bough  of  the  tree  expressly  for  that  little 
incipient  insect ;  and  the  oak  for  the  bough  ;  and  the 
soil  for  the  oak :  the  globe,  with  all  its  ups  and  downs, 
which  geology  relates,  seems  made  for  the  soil ;  and  the 
universe  for  the  globe.  So  it  appears  that  that  little 
larva  of  a  beetle  is  the  end,  or  final  cause,  of  the  uni- 
verse, stands  on  the  top  of  the  world,  and  has  all  crea- 
tion to  wait  on  him,  with  the  God  thereof  as  providential 
overseer.  Then,  regarding  this  grub  as  the  one  thing 
the  universe  w^as  designed  to  serve,  theologians  might 
say, "  Behold  God's  providence  is  special ;  he  has  special 
legislation  to  suit  this  buprestian  grub,  and  has  aimed 
the  whole  world  at  this  mark.  See  how  all  things  pre- 
pare for  that ;  the  sun  and  moon  are  only  its  forerunners, 
and  in  the  fulness  of  time  behold  a  grub ! " 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  131 

But  when  the  theologian  studies  the  condition  of  the 
next  grub  in  an  oak-apple,  or  a  gall-nut,  or  in  the  near- 
est bough,  he  finds  them  all  as  well-conditioned,  and 
sees  that  God  takes  care  of  the  Ijmexylon,  the  hyleca^tus,. 
and  the  brenthus,  as  well  as  of  the  buprestian ;  that 
each  of  them  stands  just  as  much  on  the  top  of  the  world, 
with  the  universe  to  wait  thereon,  and  God  as  overseer. 
You  may  study  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  oak-tree,  —  the 
toad,  the  squirrel,  the  fox,  the  bear,  —  it  is  true  of  them 
all.  Yes,  it  is  true  of  every  special  thing  in  the  world, 
when  you  fully  understand  that  special  thing  in  all  its  ex- 
istence, in  each  act  of  its  life.  We  cannot  by  experiment 
and  observation  prove  this  so  clearly  in  every  case  as  in 
some  special  cases,  but  starting  with  the  idea  of  God  as 
infinite,  the  conclusion  follows  at  once,  —  that  his  prov- 
idence in  reference  to  each  particular  thing  is  a  perfect 
providence. 

Then  if  you  look  at  the  relation  of  God  to  the  whole 
universe,  you  see  that,  as  far  as  you  understand  it,  the 
whole  is  as  well  taken  care  of  and  provided  for  as  the 
most  contented  grub  who  lives  on  the  bounty  of  the  oak ; 
and  you  say,  "  Here  is  general  providence,  God  acting 
by  general  laws  for  general  purposes ;  things  work  well 
on  the  whole,  and  '  if  now  a  bubble  bursts,  and  now  a 
world,'  it  is  only  a  small  exception.  The  attraction  of 
gravitation  is  a  good  thing,  it  keeps  the  world  together ; 
and  if  the  tower  of  Siloam,  thereby  falling  to  the  ground, 
slays  eighteen  men  of  Jerusalem,  that  number  is  too  small 
to  think  of,  considering  the  myriad  millions  who  are  up- 
held by  this  same  law." 

A  law  that  is  perfectly  special,  providing  for  each,  is 
also  completely  general,  providing  for  all.  In  other 
words,  it  is  universal.  God's  providence  must  be  in- 
finite, like  his   nature.     Special   and  general   are  only 


132  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

forms  in  which  we  conceive  of  that  providence  ;  in  its 
relation  to  a  single  thing  men  name  it  special,  to  many 
things,  general,  while  it  extends  to  all  and  is  universal. 
Accordingly,  it  neither  requires  nor  admits  of  miraculous 
makeshifts  and  provisional  expedients,  which  theologians 
think  indispensable  to  their  finite  God. 

When  God  created  mankind,  he  must  have  given 
thereto  the  powers  which  are  requisite  to  accomplish  all 
his  purpose.  This  must  be  true  of  mankind  as  a  whole, 
and  of  Amos  and  Habakkuk,  —  of  each  man,  as  a  part 
thereof ;  of  each  man  considered  individually  as  an  in- 
teger, and  considered  socially,  or  humanly,  as  a  fraction 
of  the  community,  or  race,  and  so  a  factor  in  the  social, 
or  general  human  result  of  the  life  of  mankind.  Of 
course,  God  must  foreknow  what  use  or  abuse  would  be 
made  of  these  powers,  given  in  their  present  proportion, 
just  as  well  as  he  knows  it  now,  after  all  the  experience 
of  centuries.  Knowing  human  nature,  he  must  fore- 
know human  history.  For  example,  God  must  have 
foreknown  that  young  children  would  stumble  bodily  in 
e-ettino:  command  of  their  limbs,  in  learning  to  walk, 
and  suffer  pain  in  consequence  thereof;  that  older  chil- 
dren would  stumble  spiritually  in  getting  command  of 
their  spirits,  in  learning  to  think  and  to  will,  and  suffer 
in  consequence  of  that ;  that  mankind  as  a  whole  would 
stumble  in  getting  command  of  the  material  world,  and 
the  development  of  their  human  powers,  and  accord- 
dingly  there  would  be  suffering  from  that  cause. 
^  Now  God,  inasmuch  as  he  is  God,  acts  providentially 
in  nature,  —  not  by  miraculous  and  spasmodic  fits  and 
starts,  but  by  regular  and  universal  laws,  by  constant 
modes  of  operation  ;  and  so  takes  care  of  material  things 
without  violating  their  constitution,  acting  always  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  things  which  he  has  made.     It 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  133 

is  a  fact  of  observation  that  in  the  material  and  uncon- 
scious world  he  works  by  its  materiality  and  uncon- 
sciousness, not  against  them ;  in  the  animal  world  by  its 
animality  and  partial  consciousness,  not  against  them. 
Judging  from  the  nature  of  God  and  of  man,  it  must  be  con- 
cluded that  in  the  providential  government  of  the  world, 
he  acts  also  by  regular  and  universal  laws,  by  constant 
modes  of  operation  ;  and  so  takes  care  of  human  things 
without  violating  their  constitution,  acting  always  ac- 
cording to  the  human  nature  of  man,  not  against  it, 
working  in  the  human  world  by  means  of  man's  con- 
sciousness and  partial  freedom,  not  against  them. 

Here,  in  the  human  world,  God's  providence  must  be 
as  complete  and  as  perfect  as  there,  in  the  material  or 
animal  world,  in  each  department  acting  by  the  natural 
laws  thereof,  not  without  or  against  them.  As  by  the 
very  constitution  of  material  or  animal  things  God's 
providence  acts  by  the  natural  laws  thereof,  —  statical, 
dynamical,  and  vital  laws,  —  so  from  the  very  constitution 
of  man  it  appears  that  God's  perfect  providence  must 
work  according  to  the  spiritual  laws  thereof ;  for  it  is  not 
conceivable  either  that  God  should  devise  laws  not  ade- 
quate for  his  purpose,  or  capriciously  depart  from  them 
if  made  adequate.  Call  this  providence  special  as  it  ap- 
plies to  Hophni  and  Phineas,  or  general  as  it  applies  to  all 
the  children  of  Jacob,  it  is  plain  that  it  must  be  universal, 
applying  to  all  material,  animal,. and  human  things. 

If  these  things  are  so,  if  God  be  infinite,  then  the  He- 
brew nation  is  under  his  universal  providence  ;  but  the 
Amalekites  whom  the  Hebrews  overthrew,  and  the  Ro- 
mans who  conquered  the  conquerors,  and  the  Goths  who 
vanquished  the  Romans,  are  all  and  equally  under  the 
universal  providence  of  God,  who  cares  equally  for  them 
all.     Not  only  are  the  nations  under  his  providence  in 


134  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

their  great  acts,  but  in  their  little  everj-day  transactions. 
Theologians  love  to  think  that  God  was  present  with 
the  Hebrews  in  their  march  out  of  Egypt,  at  Mount 
Sinai,  —  that  their  exodus  and  legislation  were  providen- 
tial. It  is  all  true ;  but  the  same  Providence  watched 
equally  over  the  English  Pilgrims,  in  their  exodus,  over 
the  British  Parliament  making  laws  at  Westminster, 
the  American  Congress  at  Philadelphia  and  Washington. 
It  is  well  to  see  this  fact  in  Hebrew  history ;  well  also 
to  go  farther  forward  and  see  it  in  all  human  history, 
and  to  know  that  human  nature  is  divine  providence. 

The  common  theological  notion  of  a  special  provi- 
dence, with  its  special  favorites,  is  full  of  mischief. 
Some  intensely  national  writer  in  the  Hebrew  Old  Tes- 
tament tells  us  that  Noah  cursed  the  descendants  of 
Ham  for  their  father's  folly  ;  theologians  inform  us  that 
in  consequence  tliereof  his  descendants  are  cast-off,  out- 
laws from  God.  But  there  are  no  outlaws  from  the 
infinite  Father :  to  say  he  casts  off  any  child  of  his,  He- 
brew or  Canaanite,  is  as  absurd  as  to  say  he  alters  the 
axioms  of  mathematics,  or  the  truths  of  the  multiplica- 
tion-table. It  is  inconsistent  with  the  nature  and  consti- 
tution of  the  infinite  God ;  it  is  as  impossible  as  tliat  one 
and  one  should  be  two  thousand,  and  not  two.  The 
African  nations,  whom  the  Caucasians  enslave,  must  be 
as  dear  to  God  as  the  pale  tyrant  who  exploiters  them, 
—  just  as  much  under  his  infinite  providence,  which  will 
not  suffer  any  ultimate  and  unrecompensed  evil  to  befall 
the  black  or  white. 

All  individuals,  then,  must  be  equally  under  the  same 
providential  care  of  the  infinite  God  ;  not  merely  great 
men,  the  Charlemagnes,  the  Cromwells,  the  Napoleons, 
"  men  of  destiny  "  as  they  are  called,  but  the  little  men ; 
not  merely  the  good  men,  the  heroes  of  religion,  the 


A    SERMON   OF  PROVIDENCE.  135 

Moseses  and  the  Jesuses,  but  ordinary  men,  and  wicked 
men,  not  barely  in  their  great  moments,  when  they  feel 
conscious  of  God,  but  in  their  daily  work  and  humble 
consciousness.  Then  it  is  plain  that  not  only  Moses 
and  Jesus  are  providential  men  intrusted  with  a  special 
mission,  but  you  and  I  and  each  man  are  just  as  much 
providential  men,  equally  intrusted  with  a  mission,  not 
the  less  special  because  it  is  humble  and  our  powers 
are  weak.  The  unnatural  Spartan  father  rejects  and 
disdains  his  idiot  girl,  leaving  her  to  perish  on  Mount 
Cithseron  ;  the  theologian  casts  off  his  son,  grown  up 
wicked  and  a  public  criminal,  leaving  him  to  perish  un- 
pitied  in  his  jail.  But  the  loving-kindness  of  the  infin- 
ite Father  watches  over  the  fool,  the  tender  mercy  of 
the  infinite  Mother  takes  up  the  criminal  when  mortal 
parents  let  him  fall.  There  is  no  child  of  perdition  be- 
fore the  infinite  God. 

Now  God,  as  the  infinitely  perfect,  must  accomplish 
his  providential  function  by  the  laws  which  belong  to 
the  nature  and  constitution  of  things ;  that  is,  by  the 
normal  and  constant  mode  of  operation  of  the  natural 
powers  resident  in  those  things  themselves,  —  in  material 
and  animal  nature  by  the  forces  and  laws  thereof ;  in 
human  nature  by  its  forces  and  its  laws.  For  as  provi- 
dence is  the  divine  execution  in  time  of  the  eternal  di- 
vine purpose,  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  God  supersedes  or 
annuls  the  means  which  he  primarily  designed  for  that 
purpose.  The  classic  deist  supposed  the  material  world 
was  the  work  of  one  God,  and  the  arrangement  of  human 
affairs  the  work  of  another.  Between  the  two  there  was 
a  collision  and  a  quarrel,  the  world-governor  must  in- 
terfere with  the  work  of  the  world-maker.  Causality  and 
providence  were  antagonistic.  But  with  the  idea  of  the  in- 
finite God  this  antithetic  dualism  vanishes  at  once  away. 


136  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

The  creative  causality  of  the  infinite  God  is  likewise 
conservative  and  administrative  providence.  So,  from 
the  nature  of  the  infinitely  perfect  God  and  the  conse- 
quent perfection  of  his  motive,  material,  purpose,  and 
means  thereto,  it  follows  that  he  will  not  destroy  as  in- 
finite providence  what  he  created  as  infinite  cause  ;  that 
he  will  not  violate  the  laws  and  break  the  constitution 
which  he  himself  has  made.  Accordingly,  in  the  midst 
of  God's  providence  working  from  a  perfect  motive,  for 
a  perfect  purpose,  and  by  means  of  the  constitution  and 
nature  of  man, — a  Providence  extending  to  all  men 
and  to  their  every  act,  —  it  is  plain  that  human  freedom 
is  safe,  and  the  ultimate  welfare  of  each  man  is  made 
sure  of,  as  certain  as  the  existence  of  God,  or  of  man. 

Atheism  tells  you  of  a  world  without  a  God,  a  great 
going,  but  a  going  with  none  to  direct ;  the  popular  the- 
ology tells  that  this  going  is  directed  by  a  finite  and 
changeable  God,  jealous,  revengeful,  loving  Jacob  and 
hating  Esau,  working  by  fits  and  starts,  even  in  wrath 
destroying  what  he  made  imperfect,  to  begin  anew,  and 
designing  to  torment  the  great  mass  of  mankind  in  ever- 
lasting woe — "miserable  to  have  eternal  being."  But 
with  the  absolute  religion,  a  knowledge  of  God  as  infin- 
ite, how  different  do  all  things  appear !  We  have  con- 
fidence, absolute  trust  in  the  motive  and  purpose  of  God, 
absolute  trust  also  in  the  means  which  he  has  provided 
in  the  nature  and  constitution  of  things.  The  human 
faculties  become  then  the  instruments  of  providence. 
Every  man  is  under  the  protection  of  God,  and  all  fear 
of  the  final  result,  for  you,  or  me,  or  for  mankind,  quite 
vanishes  away.  The  details  we  know  not.  Experience  re- 
veals them  a  day-full  at  a  time  ;  the  result  we  are  sure  of. 

Timid  men,  who  think  that  God  is  miserly,  and  the 
great  Hunker  of  the  universe,  sometimes  fear  the  mate- 


A    SERMON  OF  PROVIDENCE.  137 

rial  world  will  not  hold  out ;  some  little  "  perturbations  " 
are  discovered  ;  now  the  earth  approaches  the  sun  for 
many  years,  perhaps  never  twice  has  described  exactly 
the  same  track,  they  fear  the  earth  will  fall  into  the  fire 
and  the  world  be  burned  up.  But  by-and-by  we  find  that 
these  "  perturbations "  only  disturbed  the  astronomer, 
doubtful  of  God ;  that  to  the  Cause  and  Providence  of 
the  world  they  were  eternally  known,  fore-cared  for ; 
that  they  are  normal  acts  of  faithful  matter,  and  so  all 
undisturbed  the  world  rolls  on.  Constant  is  balanced 
by  constant.  Variable  holds  variable  in  check.  In  her 
cyclic  rotation  round  the  earth  the  moon  nods  ;  the  earth 
oscillates  in  her  rhythmic  round,  while  the  sun  nods  also, 
as  the  centre  of  gravity  of  .the  solar  system  shifts  now  a 
little  this  way,  then  a  little  that ;  nay,  tlie  whole  solar 
system,  it  is  likely,  swings  a  little  from  side  to  side  :  but 
all  this  has  been  foreseen,  provided  for,  balanced  by 
forces  which  never  sleep,  and  one  thing  set  over  against 
another  in  such  a  sort  that  all  work  together  for  good, 
and  the  great  chariot  of  heaven  sweeps  on  through 
starry  space  keeping  its  God-appointed  track.  Such  is 
the  providence  of  God  in  matter ;  not  an  atom  of  star- 
dust  is  lost  out  of  the  sky,  not  an  atom  of  flower-dust  is 
lost  from  off  this  dirty  globe :  such  are  the  laws  by 
which  God  works  his  functions  out  in  nature.  Igno- 
rance is  full  of  dread,  and  starts  at  terrors  in  the  dark, 
trembles  at  the  earthquake  and  the  storm.  But  science 
justifies  the  ways  of  God  to  matter,  knowing  all  and  lov- 
ing all,  —  discloses  everywhere  the  immanent  and  ever  ac- 
tive force.  Where  science  does  not  understand  the  mode 
of  action,  nor  read  the  title  of  perfection  clearly  in  the 
work,  it  points  to  the  infinite  perfection  of  the  Author, 
and  we  fear  no  more. 


138  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


OF   JUSTICE  AND  THE   CONSCIENCE. 

Turn,  and  do  justice.  —  Tobit  xiii.  6. 

Everywhere  in  the  world  there  is  a  natural  law,  that 
is  a  constant  mode  of  action,  which  seems  to  belong  to 
the  nature  of  things,  to  the  constitution  of  the  universe : 
this  fact  is  universal.  In  different  departments  we  call 
this  mode  of  action  by  different  names,  —  as,  the  law  of 
matter,  the  law  of  mind,  the  law  of  morals,  and  the  like. 
We  mean  thereby  a  certain  mode  of  action  which  belongs 
to  the  material,  mental,  or  moral  forces,  the  mode  in 
which  commonly  they  are  seen  to  act,  and  in  which  it  is 
their  ideal  to  act  always.  The  ideal  laws  of  matter  we 
only  know  from  the  fact  that  they  are  always  obeyed  ; 
to  us  the  actual  obedience  is  the  only  witness  of  the  ideal 
rule,  for  in  respect  to  the  conduct  of  the  material  world 
the  ideal  and  the  actual  are  the  same. 

The  laws  of  matter  we  can  learn  only  by  observation 
and  experience.  We  cannot  divine  them  and  anticipate, 
or  know  them  at  all,  unless  experience  supply  the  facts 
of  observation.  Before  experience  of  the  fact,  no  man 
could  tell  that  a  falling  body  would  descend  sixteen  feet 
the  first  second,  twice  that  the  next,  four  times  the  third, 
and  sixteen  times  the  fourth.  The  law  of  falling  bodies 
is  purely  objective  to  us  ;  no  mode  of  action  in  our  con- 
sciousness anticipates  this  rule  of  action  in  the  outer 
world.  The  same  is  true  of  all  the  laws  of  matter.  The 
ideal  law  is  known  because  it  is  a  fact.  The  law  is  im- 
perative ;  it  must  be  obeyed  without  hesitation.     In  the 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.        139 

solar  system,  or  the  composition  of  a  diamond,  no  margin 
is  left  for  any  oscillation  of  disobedience  ;  margins  of 
oscillation  there  always  are,  but  only  for  vibration  as  a 
function,  not  as  the  refusal  of  a  function.  Only  the 
primal  will  of  God  works  in  the  material  world,  —  no 
secondary  finite  will. 

In  nature,  the  world  spread  out  before  the  senses, — 
to  group  many  specific  modes  of  action  about  a  single 
generic  force,  —  we  see  there  is  the  great  general  law  of 
attraction,  which  binds  atom  to  atom  in  a  grain  of  sand, 
orb  to  orb,  system  to  system,  gives  unity  to  the  world  of 
things,  and  rounds  these  worlds  of  systems  to  a  universe. 
At  first  there  seem  to  be  exceptions  to  this  law,  —  as  in 
growth  and  decomposition,  in  the  repulsions  of  elec- 
tricity ;  but  at  length  all  these  are  found  to  bo  instantial 
cases  of  this  great  law  of  attraction  acting  in  various 
modes.  We  name  the  attraction  by  its  several  modes, 
—  cohesion  in  small  masses,  and  gravitation  in  large. 
When  the  relation  seems  a  little  more  intimate,  we  call 
it  affinity,  as  in  the  atomic  union  of  molecules  of  matter. 
Other  modes  we  name  electricity  and  magnetism  ;  when 
the  relation  is  yet  more  close  and  intimate,  we  call  it  veg- 
etation in  plants,  vitality  in  animals.  But  for  the  pres- 
ent purpose  all  these  may  be  classed  under  the  general 
term  attraction,  considered  as  acting  in  various  modes  of 
cohesion,  gravitation,  affinity,  vegetation,  and  vitality. 

This  power  gives  unity  to  the  material  w^orld,  keeps  it 
whole  ;  yet,  acting  under  such  various  forms,  gives  variety 
at  the  same  time.  The  variety  of  effect  surprises  the 
senses  at  first ;  but  in  the  end  the  unity  of  cause  aston- 
ishes the  cultivated  mind.  Looked  at  in  reference  to 
this  globe,  an  earthquake  is  no  more  than  a  chink  that 
opens  in  a  garden-walk  of  a  dry  day  in  summer.  A 
sponge  is  porous,  having  small  spaces  between  the  solid 


140  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

parts  ;  the  solar  system  is  only  more  porous,  having 
larger  room  between  the  several  orbs  ;  the  universe  yet 
more  so,  with  vast  spaces  between  the  systems  ;  a  similar 
attraction  keeps  together  the  sponge,  the  system,  and  the 
universe.  Every  particle  of  matter  in  the  world  is  related 
to  each  and  all  the  other  particles  thereof ;  attraction  is 
the  common  bond. 

In  the  spiritual  world,  the  world  of  human  conscious- 
ness, there  is  also  a  law,  an  ideal  mode  of  action  for  the 
spiritual  forces  of  man.  To  take  only  the  moral  part  of 
this  sphere  of  consciousness,  we  find  the  phenomenon 
called  justice,  the  law  of  right.  Viewed  as  a  force,  it 
bears  the  same  relation  in  the  world  of  conscience  that 
attraction  bears  in  the  world  of  sense.  I  mean  justice 
is  the  normal  relation  of  men,  and  has  the  same  to  do 
amongst  moral  atoms — individual  men, — moral  masses 
—  that  is,  nations,  —  and  the  moral  whole  —  I  mean  all 
mankind  —  which  attraction  has  to  do  with  material 
atoms,  masses,  and  the  material  whole.  It  appears  in  a 
variety  of  forms  not  less  striking. 

However,  unlike  attraction,  it  does  not  work  free  from 
all  hindrance  ;  it  develops  itself  through  conscious 
agents  that  continually  change,  and  pass  by  experiment 
from  low  to  high  degrees  of  life  and  development  to 
higher  forms  of  justice.  There  is  a  certain  private  force, 
personal  and  peculiar  to  each  one  of  us,  controlled  by 
individual  will ;  this  may  act  in  the  same  line  with  the 
great  normal  force  of  justice,  or  it  may  conflict  for  a 
time  with  the  general  law  of  the  universe,  having  private 
nutations,  oscillations,  and  aberrations,  personal  or  na- 
tional. But  these  minor  forces,  after  a  while,  are  sure  to 
be  overcome  by  the  great  general  moral  force,  pass  into 
the  current,  and  be  borne  along  in  the  moral  stream  of 
the  universe. 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.        141 

What  a  variety  of  men  and  women  in  the  world  !  —  ten 
hundred  million  persons,  and  no  two  alike  in  form  and 
lineament ;  in  character  and  being  how  unlike  ;  how  very 
different  as  phenomena  and  facts  !  What  an  immense 
variety  of  wish,  of  will,  in  these  thousand  million  men  !  — 
of  plans,  which  now  rise  up  in  the  little  personal  bubble 
that  we  call  a  reputation  or  a  great  fortune,  then  in  the 
great  national  bubble  which  we  call  a  State !  for  bubbles 
they  are,  judging  by  the  space  and  time  they  occupy  in 
this  great  and  age-outlasting  sea  of  human  kind.  But 
underneath  all  these  bubbles,  great  and  little,  resides  the 
same  eternal  force  which  they  shape  into  this  or  the  other 
special  form ;  and  over  all  the  same  paternal  Providence 
presides,  and  keeps  eternal  watch  above  the  little  and 
the  great,  producing  variety  of  effect  from  unity  of  force. 
This  Providence  allows  the  little  bubbles  of  his  child's 
caprice,  humors  him  in  forming  them ;  gives  him  time 
and  space  for  that,  understands  his  little  caprices  and 
his  whims  and  lets  him  carry  them  out  awhile;  but  him- 
self, with  no  whim  and  no  caprice,  rules  there  as  univer- 
sal justice,  omniscient  and  all-powerful.  Out  of  his  sea 
these  bubbles  rise  ;  by  his  force  they  rise  ;  by  his  law 
they  have  their  consistence  ;  and  the  private  personal  will, 
which  gives  them  size  or  littleness  and  normal  or  abnor- 
mal shap(3,  has  its  limitation  of  error  marked  out  for  it 
which  cannot  be  passed  by.  In  this  human  world  there 
is  a  wide  margin  for  oscillation ;  refusal  to  perform  the 
ideal  function  has  been  provided  for,  redundance  made 
to  balance  deficiency  ;  checks  are  provided  for  every  form 
of  abnormal  action  of  the  will. 

Viewed  as  an  object  not  in  man,  justice  is  the  consti- 
tution or  fundamental  law  of  the  moral  universe,  the  law 
of  right,  a  rule  of  conduct  for  man  in  all  his  moral  rela- 
tions.    Accordingly,  all  human  affairs  must  be  subject 


4 


142  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

to  that  as  the  law  paramount ;  what  is  right  agrees  there- 
with and  stands ;  what  is  wrong  conflicts  and  falls. 
Private  cohesions  of  self-love,  of  friendship,  or  of  patri- 
otism, must  all  be  subordinate  to  this  universal  gravita- 
tion towards  the  eternal  right. 

We  learn  the  laws  of  matter,  that  of  attraction,  for 
example,  by  observation  and  reflection ;  what  we  know 
thereof  is  the  result  of  long  experience,  —  the  experi- 
enced sight  and  the  experienced  thought  of  many  a 
thousand  years.  We  might  learn  something  of  the 
moral  law  of  justice,  the  law  of  right,  in  the  same  way, 
as  a  merely  external  thing.  Then  we  should  know  it 
as  a  phenomenon,  as  we  know  attraction ;  as  a  fact  so 
general  that  we  called  it  universal  and  a  law  of  nature. 
Still  it  would  be  deemed  only  an  arbitrary  law,  over  us, 
indeed,  but  not  in  us,  —  or  in  our  elements,  not  our 
consciousness,  —  which  Ave  must  be  subordinate  to,  but 
could  not  become  coordinate  with;  a  law  like  that  of 
falling  bodies,  wliich  had  no  natural  relation  with  us, 
which  we  could  not  anticipate  or  divine  by  our  nature, 
but  only  learn  by  our  history.  We  should  not  know 
why  God  had  made  the  world  after  the  pattern  of  jus- 
tice, and  not  injustice,  any  more  than  we  now  know  why 
a  body  does  not  fall  as  rapidly  the  first  as  the  last  second 
of  its  descent. 

God  has  given  us  a  moral  faculty,  the  conscience, 
which  is  able  to  perceive  the  moral  law  directly  and 
immediately,  by  intuitive  perception  thereof,  without  ex- 
perience of  the  external  consequences  of  keeping  or  vio- 
lating it,  and  more  perfectly  than  such  experience  can 
ever  disclose  it.  For  the  facts  of  man's  history  do  not 
fully  represent  the  faculties  of  his  nature,  as  the  his- 
tory of  matter  represents  the  qualities  of  matter.  Man, 
though   finite,  is    indefinitely    progressive,   continually 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.         143 

unfolding  the  qualities  of  liis  nature  ;  liis  history,  there- 
fore, is  not  the  whole  book  of  man,  but  only  the  portion 
thereof  "which  has  been  opened  and  publicly  read.  So 
the  history  of  man  never  completely  represents  his  na- 
ture ;  and  a  law  derived  merely  from  the  facts  of  obser- 
vation by  no  means  describes  the  normal  rule  of  action 
which  belongs  to  his  nature.  The  laws  of  matter  are 
known  to  us  because  they  are  kept ;  there  the  ideal  and 
actual  are  the  same ;  but  man  has  in  his  nature  a  rule 
of  conduct  higher  than  what  he  has  come  up  to,  —  an 
ideal  of  nature  which  shames  his  actual  of  history.  Ob- 
servation and  reflection  only  give  us  the  actual  of  morals  ; 
conscience,  by  gradual  and  successive  intuition,  presents 
us  the  ideal  of  morals.  On  condition  that  I  use  this  fac- 
ulty in  its  normal  activity,  and  in  proportion  as  I  develop 
it  and  all  its  kindred  powers,  I  learn  justice,  the  law 
of  right,  tlie  divine  rule  of  conduct  for  human  life ;  I  see 
it,  not  as  an  external  fact  which  might  as  well  not  be  at 
all  as  be,  or  might  have  been  supplanted  by  its  opposite, 
but  I  see  it  as  a  mode  of  action  which  belongs  to  the  in- 
finitely perfect  nature  of  God  ;  belongs  also  to  my  own  na- 
ture, and  so  is  not  barely  over  me,  but  in  me,  of  me,  and 
for  me.  I  can  become  coordinate  with  that,  and  not 
merely  subordinate  thereto  ;  I  find  a  deep,  permanent, 
and  instinctive  delight  in  justice,  not  only  in  the  outward 
effects,  but  in  the  inward  cause,  and  by  my  nature  I  love 
this  law  of  right,  this  rule  of  conduct,  this  justice,  with 
a  deep  and  abiding  love.  I  find  that  justice  is  the  ob- 
ject of  my  conscience,  —  fitting  that  as  light  the  eye 
and  truth  the  mind.  There  is  a  perfect  agreement  be- 
tween the  moral  object  and  the  moral  subject.  Finding 
it  fit  me  thus,  I  know  that  justice  will  work  my  welfare 
and  that  of  all  mankind. 

Attraction  is  the  most  general   law   in  the  material 


144  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

world,  and  prevents  a  schism  in  the  universe  ;  temper- 
ance is  the  law  of  the  body,  and  prevents  a  schism  in  the 
members  ;  justice  is  the  law  of  conscience,  and  prevents 
a  schism  in  the  moral  world,  amongst  individuals  in  a 
family,  communities  in  a  State,  or  nations  in  the  world 
of  men.  Temperance  is  corporeal  justice,  the  doing 
right  to  each  limb  of  the  body,  and  is  the  mean  propor- 
tional between  appetite  and  appetite,  or  one  and  all ; 
sacrificing  no  majority  to  one  desire,  however  great,  — 
no  minority,  however  little,  to  a  majority, —  but  giving 
each  its  due,  and  to  all  the  harmonious  and  well-propor- 
tioned symmetry  that  is  meet  for  all.  It  keeps  the  pro- 
portions betwixt  this  and  that,  and  holds  an  even  balance 
within  the  body,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  excess.  Jus- 
tice is  moral  temperance  in  the  world  of  men.  It  keeps 
just  relations  between  men  ;  one  man,  however  little, 
must  not  be  sacrificed  to  another,  however  great,  to  a 
majority,  or  to  all  men.  It  holds  the  balance  betwixt 
nation  and  nation,  for  a  nation  is  but  a  larger  man ;  be- 
twixt a  man  and  his  family,  tribe,  nation,  race  ;  between 
mankind  and  God.  It  is  the  universal  regulator  which 
coordinates  man  with  man,  each  with  all,  —  me  with  the 
ten  hundred  millions  of  men,  so  that  my  absolute  rights 
and  theirs  do  not  interfere,  nor  our  ultimate  interests 
ever  clash,  nor  my  eternal  welfare  prove  antagonistic  to 
the  blessedness  of  all  or  any  one.  I  am  to  do  justice, 
and  demand  that  of  all,  —  a  universal  human  debt,  a 
universal  human  claim. 

But  it  extends  further ;  it  is  the  regulator  between 
men  and  God.  It  is  the  moral  spontaneousness  of  the 
infinite  God,  as  it  is  to  be  the  moral  volition  of  finite 
men.  The  right  to  the  justice  of  God  is  unalienable  in 
men,  the  universal  human  claim,  the  never-ending  gift 
for  them.     Can  God  ever  depart  from  his  own  justice, 


OF  JUSTICE  AND   THE   CONSCIENCE.         145 

deprive  any  creature  of  a  right,  or  balk  it  of  a  natural 
claim?  Philosophically  speaking,  it  is  impossible, —  a 
contradiction  to  our  idea  of  God.  Religiously  speaking, 
it  is  impious,  —  a  contradiction  to  our  feeling  of  God. 
Both  the  philosophic  and  the  religious  consciousness  de- 
clare it  impossible  that  God  should  be  unjust.  The  na- 
ture of  finite  men  claims  justice  of  God ;  his  infinite 
nature  adjusts  the  claim.  Every  man  in  the  world  is 
morally  related  to  each  and  all  the  rest.  Justice  is  the 
common  human  bond.  It  joins  us  also  to  the  infinite  God. 
Justice  is  his  constant  mode  of  action  in  the  moral  world. 

So  much  for  justice,  viewed  as  objective,  —  as  a  law  of 
the  universe,  the  mode  of  action  of  the  universal  moral 
force. 

Man  naturally  loves  justice  for  its  own  sake,  as  the 
natural  object  of  his  conscience.  As  the  mind  loves 
truth  and  beauty,  so  conscience  loves  the  right ;  it  is 
true  and  beautiful  to  the  moral  faculties.  Conscience 
rests  in  justice  as  an  end,  as  the  mind  in  truth.  As 
truth  is  the  side  of  God  turned  towards  the  intellect,  so 
is  justice  the  side  of  him  which  conscience  looks  upon. 
Love  of  justice  is  the  moral  part  of  piety. 

When  I  am  a  baby,  in  my  undeveloped  moral  state  I 
do  not  love  justice,  nor  conform  to  it ;  when  I  am  sick, 
and  have  not  complete  control  over  this  republic  of  nerves 
and  muscles,  I  fail  of  justice  and  heed  it  not ;  when  I 
am  stung  with  beastly  rage,  blinded  by  passion,  or  over- 
attracted  from  my  proper  sphere  of  affection,  another 
man  briefly  possessing  me,  I  may  not  love  the  absolute 
and  eternal  right,  private  capillary  attraction  conflicting 
with  the  universal  gravitation.  But  in  my  maturitv,  in 
my  cool  and  personal  hours,  when  I  am  most  myself, 
and  the  accidents  of  my  bodily  temperament  and  local 
surroundings   are   controlled   by  the    substance   of  my 

10 


146  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

manhood,  then  I  love  justice  with  a  firm,  unwavering 
love.  That  is  the  natural  fealty  of  my  conscience  to  its 
liege  lord.  Then  I  love  justice,  not  for  its  consequences 
for  bodily  gain,  but  for  itself,  for  the  moral  truth  and 
loveliness  thereof.  Then  if  justice  crown  me  I  am  glad, 
not  merely  with  my  personal  feeling,  because  it  is  I  who 
wear  the  crown,  but  because  it  is  the  crown  of  justice. 
If  justice  discrown  and  bind  me  down  to  infamy,  I  still 
am  glad  with  all  my  moral  sense  and  joy  in  the  univer- 
sal justice,  though  I  suffer  with  the  private  smart. 
Though  all  that  is  merely  selfish  and  personal  of  me 
revolts,  still  what  is  noblest,  what  I  hold  in  common 
with  mankind  and  in  common  with  God,  bids  me  be  glad 
if  justice  is  done  upon  me  ;  to  me  or  upon  me,  I  know  it 
is  justice  still,  and  though  my  private  injustice  be  my 
foe,  the  justice  of  the  universe  is  still  my  friend.  God, 
acting  in  this  universal  mode  of  moral  force,  acts  for  me, 
and  the  prospect  of  future  suffering  has  no  terror. 

Men  reverence  and  love  justice.  Conscience  is  loyal ; 
moral  piety  begins  early,  the  ethical  instinct  prompting 
mankind,  and  in  savage  ages  bringing  out  the  lovely 
flower  m  some  woman's  character  where  moral  beauty 
has  its  earliest  spring.  Commonly,  men  love  justice  a 
little  more  than  truth  ;  they  are  more  moral  than  intel- 
lectual ;  have  ideas  of  the  conscience  more  than  of  the 
mind.  This  is  not  true  of  the  more  cultivated  classes 
in  any  civilization,  but  of  the  mass  of  men  in  all ;  their 
morals  are  better  than  their  philosophy.  They  see  more 
absolute  truth  with  the  moral  than  with  the  intellectual 
faculty.  The  instinct  for  the  abstract  just  of  will  is 
always  a  little  before  the  instinct  for  the  abstract  true 
of  thought.  This  is  the  normal  order  of  development. 
But  in  the  artificial  forms  of  culture  what  is  selfish  and 
for  one  takes  rank  before  what  is  human  and  for  all. 


OF  JUSTICE  AND   THE   CONSCIENCE.        147 

So  cultivated  men  commonly  seek  large  intellectual 
power  as  an  instrument  for  their  selfish  purposes,  and 
neglect  and  even  hate  to  get  a  large  moral  power,  the 
instrument  of  universal  benevolence.  They  love  the  ex- 
clusive use  of  certain  forms  of  truth,  and  neglect  justice, 
which  would  make  the  convenience  of  every  truth  serve 
the  common  good  of  all.  Men  with  large  moral  power 
must  needs  work  for  all ;  with  merely  large  intellectual 
power  they  may  work  only  for  themselves.  Hence 
crafty  aristocracies  and  monopolists  seek  for  intellectual 
culture  as  a  mode  of  power,  and  shun  moral  culture, 
which  can  never  serve  a  selfish  end.  This  rule  holds 
good  of  all  the  great  forms  of  civilization,  from  the 
Egyptian  to  the  British  ;  of  all  the  higher  seminaries 
of  education,  from  the  propaganda  of  the  Jesuits  to  a 
New  England  college.  In  all  the  civilized  nations  at 
this  day  the  controlling  class  is  intellectual  more  than 
moral ;  has  more  power  of  thought  than  power  of  right- 
eousness. The  same  fact  appears  in  the  literature  of  the 
world.  The  foremost  class  in  culture,  wealth,  and  social 
rank  have  less  than  the  average  proportion  of  morality. 
Hence  comes  the  character  of  laws,  political,  social,  and 
ecclesiastical  institutions,  —  not  designed  for  all,  but  for 
a  few,  at  best  a  part,  because  the  makers  did  not  start  with 
adequate  moral  power,  nor  propose  justice  as  an  end. 

Yet  the  mass  of  men  are  always  looking  for  the  just ; 
all  this  vast  machinery  which  makes  up  a  State,  a  world 
of  States,  is,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  an  attempt  to 
organize  justice  ;  the  minute  and  wide-extending  civil 
machinery  which  makes  up  the  law  and  the  courts,  with 
all  their  officers  and  implements,  on  the  part  of  mankind, 
is  chiefly  an  effort  to  reduce  to  practice  the  theory  of 
right.  Alas !  with  the  leaders  of  civil  and  political 
affairs  it  is  quite  different,  —  often  an  organization  of 


148  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

selfishness.  Mankind  reaches  out  after  the  absolute 
right,  makes  its  constitutions  to  establish  justice  and 
provide  for  the  common  defence.  We  report  the  decis- 
ions of  wise  men  and  of  courts  ;  we  keep  the  record  of 
cases  decided,  to  help  us  judge  more  wisely  in  time  to 
come.  The  nation  would  enact  laws  ;  it  aims  to  get  the 
justest  men  in  the  State,  that  they  may  incorporate  their 
aggregate  sense  of  right  into  a  statute.  We  set  twelve 
honest  men  to  try  an  alleged  offender ;  they  are  to  apply 
their  joint  justice  to  the  special  case.  The  people  wish 
law  to  be  embodied  justice,  administered  without  passion. 
I  know  the  government  seldom  desires  this  ;  the  people 
as  seldom  fail  of  the  wish.  Yet  the  mass  of  men  com- 
monly attribute  their  own  moral  aims  to  every  great 
leader.  Did  they  know  the  actual  selfishness  and  injus- 
tice of  their  rulers,  not  a  government  would  stand  a  year. 
The  world  would  ferment  with  universal  revolution. 

In  savage  times,  duelling  and  private  revenge  grew 
out  of  this  love  of  justice.  They  were  rude  efforts  after 
the  right.  In  its  name  a  man  slew  his  father's  murderer, 
or,  failing  thereof,  left  the  reversion  of  his  vengeance  as 
a  trust  in  the  hands  of  his  own  son,  to  be  paid  to  the 
offender  or  his  heir.  With  the  Norsemen  it  was  deemed 
a  crime  against  society  to  forgive  a  grievous  wrong, 
and  "  nidding  "  is  a  word  of  contempt  to  this  day.  It 
was  not  merely  personal  malice  which  led  to  private 
revenge  ;  which  bade  the  Scottish  mother  train  up  one 
son  after  another  filled  with  a  theological  hatred  against 
their  father's  murderer ;  not  a  private  and  selfish  lust 
of  vengeance  alone  which  sustained  her  after  the  eldest 
and  then  the  next  of  age  perished  in  the  attempt,  and 
filled  her  with  a  horrid  joy  wlien  the  third  succeeded. 
It  was  "  wild  justice  "  in  a  wild  age,  but  always  mixed 
with  passion,  and  administered   in  hate  :    private  ven- 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.        149 

geance  edged  the  axe  with  which  wild  justice  struck  the 
blow.  Even  now,  in  the  ruder  portions  of  America, 
South  and  West,  where  the  common  law  is  silent,  and 
of  statutes  there  are  none,  or  none  enforced  when  a 
wrong  is  done,  the  offended  people  come  forth  and  hold 
their  court,  with  summary  process,  brief  and  savage,  to 
decree  something  like  justice  in  a  brutal  way  ;  rage  fur- 
nishing the  occasion,  conscience  is  still  the  cause. 

All  these  things  indicate  a  profound  love  of  justice  in- 
herent in  mankind.  It  takes  a  rude  form  with  rude  men, 
is  mixed  with  passion,  private  hate  ;  in  a  civilized  com- 
munity it  takes  a  better  form,  and  attemi)ts  arc  made  to 
remove  all  personal  malice  from  the  representatives  of 
right.  A  few  years  ago  men  were  surprised  to  see  the 
people  of  a  neighboring  city  for  the  first  time  choose 
their  judges  ;  common  elections  had  been  carried  there 
by  uncommon  party  tricks  ;  but  when  this  grave  matter 
came  before  the  people,  they  laid  off  their  party  badges, 
and  as  men,  chose  the  best  officers  for  that  distinguished 
trust. 

The  people  are  not  satisfied  with  any  form  of  govern- 
ment or  statute  law  until  it  comes  up  to  their  sense  of 
justice  ;  so  every  progressive  State  revises  its  statutes 
from  time  to  time,  and  at  each  revision  comes  nearer  to 
the  absolute  right  which  human  nature  demands.  Man- 
kind, always  progressive,  revolutionizes  constitutions, 
changes  and  changes,  seeking  to  come  close  to  the  ideal 
justice,  the  divine  and  immutable  law  of  the  world,  to 
which  we  all  owe  fealty,  swear  how  we  will. 

In  literature  men  always  look  for  poetical  justice,  de- 
siring that  virtue  should  have  its  own  reward  and  vice 
appropriate  punishment,  not  always  outward,  but  always 
real,  and  made  known  to  the  reader.  All  students  of 
English  history  rejoice  at  the  downfall  of  Judge  Jeffries. 


150  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

In  romances  we  love  to  read  of  some  man  or  maid  op- 
pressed by  outward  circumstances,  but  victorious  over 
them ;  hawked  at  bj  villains  whose  foot  is  taken  in  their 
own  snare.  This  is  the  principal  charm  in  the  ballads 
and  people's  poetry  of  England  and  Germany,  and  in  the 
legends  of  Catholic  countries.  All  men  sympathize  in 
the  fate  of  Blue  Beard  and  "  the  guardian  uncle  fierce." 
The  world  has  ready  sympathy  with  the  Homeric  tale  of 
Ulysses  returning  to  his  Penelope,  long  faithful,  but  not 
grown  old  with  baffling  the  suitors  for  twenty  years.  It 
is  his  justice  and  humanity  which  give  such  a  wide  audi- 
ence to  the  most  popular  novelist  of  our  day.  But  when 
a  writer  tries  to  paint  vice  beautiful,  make  sin  trium- 
phant, men  shrink  away  from  the  poison  atmosphere  he 
breathes.  Authors  like  Filmer,  Machiavel,  and  Hobbes 
arouse  the  indignation  of  mankind.  The  fact  of  personal 
error  it  is  easy  to  excuse,  but  mankind  does  not  forgive 
such  as  teach  the  theory  of  sin.  We  always  honor  men 
who  forget  their  immediate  personal  interests  and  use  an 
autlior's  sacred  function  to  bear  witness  to  the  right. 

The  majority  of  men  who  think  have  an  ideal  justice 
better  than  the  things  about  them,  juster  than  the  law. 
Some  paint  it  beliind  them,  on  the  crumbling  walls  of 
history,  and  tell  us  of  "  the  good  old  times  ; "  others 
paint  it  before  them,  on  the  morning  mist  of  youthful 
life,  and  in  their  prayers  and  their  daily  toil  strive  after 
this,  their  New  Jerusalem.  We  all  of  us  have  some 
ideal ;  our  dream  is  fairer  than  our  day ;  we  will  not  let 
it  go.  If  the  wicked  prosper,  it  is  but  for  a  moment,  say 
we  ;  the  counsel  of  the  froAvard  shall  be  carried  head- 
long. What  an  ideal  democracy  now  floats  before  the 
eyes  of  earnest  and  religious  men, — fairer  than  the  "re- 
public "  of  Plato,  or  More's  "  Utopia,"  or  the  "  golden 
age  "  of  fabled  memory  !     It  is  justice  that  we  want  to 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.        151 

organize,  —  justice  for  all,  for  rich  and  poor.  There  the 
slave  shall  be  free  from  his  master.  There  shall  be  no 
want,  no  oppression,  no  fear  of  man,  no  fear  of  God,  but 
only  love.  "  Tliere  is  a  good  time  coming,"  —  so  we  all 
believe  when  we  are  young,  and  full  of  life  and  healthy 
hope. 

God  has  made  man  with  the  instinctive  love  of  justice 
in  him,  which  gradually  gets  developed  in  the  world. 
But  in  himself  justice  is  infinite.  This  justice  of  God 
must  appear  in  the  world,  and  in  the  history  of  men ; 
and,  after  all  "  the  wrongs  that  patient  merit  of  the  un- 
worthy takes,"  still  you  see  that  the  ploughshare  of  jus- 
tice is  drawn  through  and  through  the  field  of  the  world, 
uprooting  the  savage  plants.  The  proverbs  of  the  na- 
tions tell  us  this  :  "  The  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slow, 
but  they  grind  to  powder  ;  "  "  111  got  ill  spent ;  "  "  The 
triumphing  of  the  wicked  is  but  for  a  moment ;  "  "  What 
the  devil  gives  he  also  takes  ; "  "  Honesty  is  the  best 
policy  ;  "  "  No  butter  will  stick  to  a  bad  man's  bread." 
Sometimes  these  sayings  come  from  the  instinct  of  jus- 
tice in  man,  and  have  a  little  ethical  exaggeration  about 
them,  but  yet  more  often  they  represent  the  world's  ex- 
perience of  facts  more  than  its  consciousness  of  ideas. 

Look  at  the  facts  of  the  world.  You  see  a  continual 
and  progressive  triumph  of  the  right.  I  do  not  pretend 
to  understand  the  moral  universe  ;  the  arc  is  a  long  one, 
my  eye  reaches  but  little  ways  ;  I  cannot  calculate  the 
curve  and  complete  the  figure  by  the  experience  of  sight ; 
I  can  divine  it  by  conscience.  And  from  what  I  see  I 
am  sure  it  bends  towards  justice.  Things  refuse  to  be 
mismanaged  long.  Jefferson  trembled  when  he  thought 
of  slavery  and  remembered  that  God  is  just.  Ere  long 
all  America  will  tremble.  The  Stuarts  in  England  were 
tyrannical  and  strong ;    respectable  and  peaceful  men 


152  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

kept  still  awhile,  and  bore  the  tyranny  ;  but  men  who 
loved  God  and  his  justice  more  than  house  and  land  fled 
to  the  wilderness  and  built  up  a  troublesome  common- 
wealth of  Puritans.  Such  as  stayed  at  home  endeavored 
for  a  while  to  submit  to  the  wrong ;  some  of  them  made 
theories  to  justify  it.  But  it  could  not  be ;  the  tyranny 
became  unbearable  even  to  barons  and  bishops ;  one 
tyrant  loses  his  head,  another  his  crown ;  no  Stuart 
must  tread  again  the  English  soil ;  legitimacy  becomes 
a  pretender. 

England  would  rule  America,  not  for  our  good,  but 
hers  alone.  We  forgot  the  love  which  bound  the  two 
people  into  one  family  ;  the  obstinate  injustice  of  the 
mother  weakened  the  ties  of  language,  literature,  reli- 
gion, —  the  Old  England  and  the  New  read  the  same 
Bible,  —  kindred  blood  and  institutions  inherited  from 
the  same  fathers  ;  we  thought  only  of  the  injustice  ;  and 
there  was  an  ocean  between  us  and  the  mother  country. 
The  fairest  jewel  fell  from  the  British  crown. 

In  France,  kings,  nobles,  clergy,  trod  the  people  down. 
Men  bore  it  with  the  slow,  sad  patience  of  humanity, 
bore  it  out  of  regard  for  the  "  divinity  that  doth  hedge 
a  king,"  for  the  nobility  of  the  noble,  and  the  reverence 
of  the  priest.  But  in  a  few  years  outraged  humanity 
forgot  its  slow,  sad  patience,  and  tore  away  this  triple 
torment,  —  as  Paul,  escaped  from  wreck,  shook  off  the 
viper  from  his  hand,  —  and  trod  the  v^enomous  beast  to 
dust.  Napoleon  came,  king  of  the  people.  Justice  was 
his  word,  his  action  for  a  while.  The  nation  gathered 
about  him,  gave  him  their  treasure  and  their  trust.  He 
was  strong  through  the  people's  faith ;  his  foes  fell 
before  him;  ancient  thrones  tottered  and  reeled,  and 
came  heavy  to  the  ground.  The  name  of  justice,  of  the 
rights  of  man,  shook  down  their  thrones,  and  organized 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.         153 

victory  at  every  step.  But  he  grows  giddy  with  his 
height ;  selfishness  talvcs  the  place  of  justice  in  his  coun- 
sels ;  a  bastard  giant  sits  on  the  throne  whence  the 
people  had  hurled  off  "legitimate"  oppression;  he  fights 
no  more  the  battles  of  mankind ;  justice  is  exiled  from 
his  upstart  court.  The  people  fall  away ;  victory  perches 
no  more  on  his  banner.  The  snows  of  Russia  cut  off 
his  army,  but  it  was  his  own  injustice  that  brought 
Napoleon  to  the  ground.  Self-shorn  of  this  great 
strength,  the  ablest  monarch  since  Charlemagne  sits 
down  on  a  little  island  in  the  tropic  sea,  and  dies  upon 
that  lonely  rock,  his  life  a  warning,  to  bid  mankind  be 
just  and  not  despise  the  Lord.  No  mightiness  of  genius 
could  save  him,  cut  off  from  the  moral  force  of  the 
human  race.  Can  any  tyrant  prosper  where  such  a 
master  fell  ? 

Look  at  the  condition  of  Christendom  at  this  day ; 
what  tyrant  sits  secure  ?  Revolution  is  the  lynch-law 
of  nations ;  it  creates  an  anarchy,  and  then  organizes 
its  provisional  government  of  momentary  despotism.  It 
is  a  bloody  process,  but  justice  does  not  disdain  a  rugged 
road ;  the  desire  of  all  nations  comes  not  always  on  an 
ass's  colt.  All  Europe  is,  just  now,  in  a  great  ferment ; 
terrible  questions  are  getting  ready  for  a  swift  tribunal. 
Injustice  cannot  stand.  No  armies,  no  "  Holy  Alliance," 
can  hold  it  up.  Human  nature  is  against  it ;  and  so  is 
the  nature  of  God  !  "  Justice  has  feet  of  wool,"  no  man 
hears  her  step,  "  but  her  hands  are  of  iron,"  and  where 
she  lays  them  down,  only  God  can  uplift  and  unclasp. 
It  is  vain  to  trust  in  wrong :  as  much  of  evil  so  much 
of  loss,  is  the  formula  of  human  history. 

I  know  men  complain  that  sentence  against  an  evil 
work  is  not  presently  executed.  They  see  but  half ; 
it  is  executed,  and  with  speed;   every  departure  from 


154  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

justice  is  attended  with  loss  to  the  unjust  man,  but  the 
loss  is  not  reported  to  the  public.  Sometimes  a  man  is 
honored  as  a  brave,  good  man,  but  trial  rings  him  and 
he  gives  an  empty,  hollow  sound.  All  the  ancient  and 
honorable  may  bid  the  people  trust  that  man,  —  they 
turn  off  their  affections  from  him. 

So  have  I  seen  an  able  man,  witty  and  cunning,  grace- 
ful, plausible,  elegant,  and  rich ;  men  honored  him  for 
a  time,  tickled  by  his  beauty  to  eye  and  ear.  But  grad- 
ually the  mean  soul  of  the  man  appeared  in  his  conduct, 
selfish,  grasping,  inhuman,  and  fraudulently  unjust.  The 
public  heart  forgot  him,  and  when  he  came  to  die,  the 
town  which  once  had  honored  him  so  much  gave  him  only 
earth  to  rest  his  coffin  on.  He  had  the  official  praises 
whicli  he  paid  for,  that  was  all.  Silence  is  a  figure  of 
speech,  unanswerable,  short,  cold,  but  terribly  severe. 

How  differently  do  men  honor  such  as  stood  up  for 
truth  and  right,  and  never  shrank !  What  monuments 
the  world  builds  to  its  patriots  !  Four  great  statesmen, 
organizers  of  the  right,  embalmed  in  stone,  look  dawn 
upon  the  lawgivers  of  France  as  they  pass  to  their  hall 
of  legislation,  silent  orators  to  tell  how  nations  love  the 
just.  What  a  monument  Washington  has  built  in  the 
heart  of  America  and  all  the  world  !  not  by  great  genius, 
—  he  had  none  of  that,  —  but  by  his  effort  to  be  just. 
The  martyrs  of  Christendom,  of  Judaism,  and  of  every 
form  of  heathen  faith,  —  how  men  worship  those  firm 
souls  who  shook  off  their  body  sooner  than  be  false  to 
conscience. 

Yet  eminent  justice  is  often  misunderstood.  Little- 
ness has  its  compensation.  A  small  man  is  seldom 
pinched  for  want  of  room.  Greatness  is  its  own  tor- 
ment. There  was  once  a  man  on  this  earth  whom  the 
world  could  not  understand.     He  was  too  high  for  them, 


OF  JUSTICE  AND   THE   CONSCIENCE.        155 

too  wide,  was  every  way  too  great.  He  came,  the  great- 
est moral  genius  of  our  history,  to  bless  mankind.  Men 
mocked  him,  gave  him  a  gallows  between  two  thieves. 
"  Saviour,  save  thyself,"  said  they,  as  they  shot  out  the 
lip  at  him.  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do ! "  was  the  manly  answer  to  the  brutal 
taunt.  Now  see  how  the  world  avenges  its  conscience 
on  itself  for  this  injustice :  for  sixteen  hundred  years 
men  worship  him  as  God  throughout  the  Western  World. 
His  name  goes  like  the  morning  sun  around  the  earth, 
like  that  to  waken  beauty  into  life.  This  conscience  of 
ours  is  loyal ;  only  let  us  see  the  man  and  know  that  he 
is  king  of  righteousness,  and  we  will  do  him  homage 
all  our  days. 

But  we  do  not  see  that  justice  is  always  done  on  earth; 
many  a  knave  is  rich,  sleek,  and  honored,  while  the  just 
man  is  poor,  hated,  and  in  torment.  The  Silesian  mer- 
chant fattens  on  the  weavers'  tears,  and  eats  their  chil- 
dren's bones.  Three  million  slaves  earn  the  enjoyment 
of  Americans,  who  curse  them  in  the  name  of  Christ ; 
in  the  North,  capital  is  a  tyrant  over  labor.  How  sad 
is  the  condition  of  the  peasantry  of  Christendom !  The 
cry  of  a  world  of  suffering,  from  mythic  Abel  to  the 
actual  slaves  of  America,  comes  up  to  our  ear,  and  the 
instinct  of  justice  paints  a  world  beyond  the  grave,  where 
exact  justice  shall  be  done  to  all  and  each,  to  Abel  and 
to  Cain.  The  moral  instinct,  not  satisfied  on  earth, 
reaches  out  to  the  future  world,  and  in  an  ideal  heaven 
would  realize  ideal  justice.  But  even  there  the  tyranny 
of  able-minded  men  has  interfered,  painting  immortality 
in  such  guise  that  it  would  be  a  curse  to  mankind. 
Yet  the  instinct  of  justice  prevails  above  it  all,  and 
few  men  fear  to  meet  the  eternal  Mother  of  us  all  in 
heaven. 


156  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

We  need  a  great  and  conscious  development  of  the 
moral  element  in  man,  and  a  corresponding  expansion 
of  justice  in  human  affairs ;  an  intentional  application 
thereof  to  individual,  domestic,  social,  ecclesiastical,  and 
political  life.  In  the  old  military  civilization  that  was 
not  possible ;  in  the  present  industrial  civilization  it  is 
not  thought  desirable  by  the  mercantile  chiefs  of  Church 
and  State.  Hitherto,  the  actual  function  of  government, 
so  far  as  it  has  been  controlled  by  the  will  of  the  rulers, 
has  commonly  been  this,  to  foster  the  strong  at  the 
expense  of  the  weak,  to  protect  the  capitalist  and  tax 
the  laborer.  The  powerful  have  sought  a  monopoly  of 
development  and  enjoyment,  loving  to  eat  their  morsel 
alone.  Accordingly,  little  respect  is  paid  to  absolute 
justice  by  the  controlling  statesmen  of  the  Christian 
world.  Not  conscience  and  the  right  is  appealed  to,  but 
prudence  and  the  expedient  for  to-day.  Justice  is  for- 
gotten in  looking  at  interest,  and  political  morality 
neglected  for  political  economy ;  instead  of  national 
organization  of  the  ideal  right,  we  have  only  national 
housekeeping.  Hence  come  the  great  evils  of  civilization 
at  this  day,  and  the  questions  of  humanity,  so  long  ad- 
journed and  put  off  that  it  seems  they  can  only  be 
settled  with  bloodshed.  Nothing  rests  secure  save  in 
the  law  of  God.  The  thrones  of  Christian  Europe 
tremble ;  a  little  touch  and  they  fall.  Capitalists  are 
alarmed,  lest  gold  ill  got  should  find  an  equilibrium. 
Behind  the  question  of  royalty,  nobility,  slavery,  —  relics 
of  the  old  feudalism,  —  there  are  other  questions  yet 
more  radical,  soon  to  be  asked  and  answered. 

There  has  been  a  foolish  neglect  of  moral  culture 
throughout  all  Christendom.  The  leading  classes  have 
not  valued  it ;  with  them  the  mind  Avas  thought  better 
than  the  moral  sense,  and  conscience  a  dowdy.     It  is  so 


OF  JUSTICE  AND   THE   CONSCIENCE.        157 

in  the  higher  education  of  New  England,  as  of  Europe. 
These  men  seek  the  uses  of  truth,  not  truth  itself ;  they 
scorn  duty  and  its  higher  law ;  to  be  ignorant  and  weak- 
minded  is  thought  worse  than  to  be  voluntarily  unjust 
and  wicked ;  idiocy  of  conscience  is  often  thought  an 
excellence,  is  never  out  of  fashion.  Morality  is  thought 
ho  part  of  piety  in  the  Church,  it  "  saves "  no  man ; 
"  belief  "  does  that  with  the  Protestants,  "  sacraments  " 
with  the  Catholics ;  it  is  no  part  of  politics  in  the  State, 
—  not  needed  to  save  the  nation  or  the  soul. 

Of  late  years  there  has  been  a  great  expansion  of  in- 
tellectual development  in  Europe  and  America.  Has 
the  moral  development  kept  pace  with  it  ?  Is  the  desire 
to  apply  justice  to  its  universal  function  as  common  and 
intense  with  the  more  intellectual  classes  as  the  desire 
to  apply  special  truths  to  their  function  ?  By  no  means. 
We  have  organized  our  schemes  of  intellectual  culture  ; 
it  is  the  function  of  schools,  colleges,  learned  societies, 
and  all  the  special  institutions  for  agriculture,  manufac- 
tures, and  commerce,  to  develop  the  understanding  and 
apply  it  to  various  concrete  interests.  No  analogous 
pains  have  been  taken  with  the  culture  of  conscience. 
France  has  the  only  academy  for  moral  science  in  the 
Christian  world !  We  have  statistical  societies  for  in- 
terest, no  moral  societies  for  justice.  We  rely  only  on 
the  moral  instinct ;  its  development  is  accidental,  not  a 
considerable  part  of  our  plan  ;  or  else  is  involuntary,  no 
part  of  the  will  of  the  most  intellectual  class.  There  is 
no  college  for  the  conscience. 

Do  the  churches  accomplish  this  educational  purpose 
for  the  moral  sense  ?  The  popular  clergy  think  mira- 
cles better  than  morality ;  and  have  even  less  justice 
than  truth.  They  justify  the  popular  sins  in  the  name 
of   God ;  are  the  allies  of   desiDotism  in   all   its  forms, 


158  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

military  or  industrial.  Oppression  bj  the  sword  and 
oppression  by  capital  successively  find  favor  with  them. 
In  America  there  are  two  common  ecclesiastical  defen- 
ces of  African  slavery  :  The  negroes  are  the  descendants 
of  Ham,  who  laughed  at  his  father  Noah,  —  overtaken 
with  drink,  —  and  so  it  is  right  that  Ham's  children, 
four  thousand  years  later,  should  be  slaves  to  the  rest  of 
the  world  ;  slavery  teaches  the  black  men  "  our  blessed 
religion."  Such  is  ecclesiastical  justice  ;  and  hence 
judge  the  value  of  the  churches  to  educate  the  con- 
science of  mankind  !  It  is  strange  how  little  the  clergy 
of  Christendom,  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  have  done  for 
the  morality  of  the  world ;  much  for  decorum,  little  for 
justice  ;  a  deal  for  ecclesiastical  ceremony,  but  what  for 
ecclesiastical  righteousness  ?  They  put  worship  with 
the  knee  before  the  natural  piety  of  the  conscience. 
"Trusting  in  good  works"  is  an  offence  to  the  Christian 
Church,  as  well  Protestant  as  Catholic. 

In  Europe  the  consequences  of  this  defect  of  moral 
culture  have  become  alarming,  even  to  such  as  fear  only 
for  money.  That  intellectual  culture  which  was  once 
the  cherished  monopoly  of  the  rich,  has  got  diffused 
amongst  wide  ranks  of  men,  who  once  sat  in  the  shadow 
of  intellectual  darkness.  There  is  no  development  of 
conscience  to  correspond  therewith.  The  Protestant 
clergy  have  not  enlightened  the  people  on  the  science  of 
religion.  The  Catholics  had  little  light  to  spare,  and 
that  was  spent  in  exhibiting  "  the  holy  coat  of  Treves," 
or  images  of  "the  Virgin,"  and  in  illuminating  cardinals 
and  popes  set  in  the  magic-lantern  of  the  great  ecclesi- 
astical show-box.  No  pains,  or  little,  have  been  taken 
with  the  moral  culture  of  the  people  ;  none  scientifically 
and  for  the  sake  of  justice  and  human  kind.  So  the 
selfishness  of  the  rich  has  spread  with  their  intellectual 


OF  JUSTICE  AND    THE   CONSCIENCE.        159 

culture.  The  few  have  long  demanded  a  monopoly  for 
themselves,  and  with  their  thunder  blasted  the  mortal 
life  of  the  prophets  of  justice  sent  by  God  to  establish 
peace  on  earth  and  good-will  amongst  men.  Now  the 
many  begin  to  demand  a  monopoly  for  themselves.  Ed- 
ucation, wealth,  political  power,  was  once  a  privilege, 
and  they  who  enjoyed  it  made  this  their  practical 
motto  :  "  Down  with  the  poor  I  "  The  feudal  system  fell 
before  Dr.  Faustus  and  his  printing-press.  Military 
civilization  slowly  gives  way  to  industrial.  Common 
schools  teach  men  to  read.  The  steam-press  cheapens 
literature ;  the  complicated  tools  of  modern  industry 
make  the  shop  a  college  for  the  understanding ;  the 
laborer  is  goaded  by  his  hate  of  wrong,  which  is  the  pas- 
sion of  morality,  as  love  of  right  is  the  affection  thereof ; 
—  he  sees  small  respect  for  justice  in  Church  or  State. 
What  shall  save  him  from  the  selfishness  about  him, 
long  dignified  as  philosophy,  sanctified  as  religion,  and 
reverenced  as  the  law  of  God !  Do  you  wonder  at 
"  atheism "  in  Germany  ;  at  communism  in  France  ? 
Such  "  atheism  "  is  the  theory  of  the  church  made  pop- 
ular ;  the  worst  communism  is  only  the  principle  of 
monopoly  translated  out  of  aristocracy  into  democracy ; 
the  song  of  the  noble  in  the  people's  moutli.  The  hid- 
eous cry,  "  Down  with  the  rich  !  "  —  is  that  an  astonish- 
ment to  the  leaders  of  Europe,  who  have  trod  down  the 
poor  these  thousand  years  ?  When  ignorance,  moral 
and  intellectual  stupidity,  brought  only  servile  obedience 
from  the  vassal,  the  noble  took  delight  in  the  oppression 
which  trod  his  brother  down.  Now  numbers  are  power  ; 
that  is  the  privilege  of  the  people,  and  if  the  people,  the 
privileged  class  of  tlie  future,  have  the  selfisliness  of  the 
aristocracy,  what  shall  save  the  darling  dollars  of  the 
rich  ?     "  They  that  laughed  at  the  grovelling  worm,  and 


160  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

trod  on  him,  may  cry  and  howl  when  they  see  the  stoop 
of  the  flying  and  fiery-mouthed  dragon  !  " 

The  leaders  of  modern  civilization  have  scorned  jus- 
tice. The  chiefs  of  war,  of  industry,  and  the  church  are 
joined  in  a  solidarity  of  contempt ;  in  America,  not  har- 
lots, so  much  as  politicians,  debauch  the  land.  Con- 
science has  been  left  out  of  the  list  of  faculties  to  be 
intentionally  developed  in  the  places  of  honor.  Is  it 
marvellous  if  men  find  their  own  selfishness  fall  on 
their  own  heads  ?  No  army  of  special  constables  will 
supply  the  place  of  morality  in  the  people.  If  they  do 
not  reverence  justice,  what  shall  save  the  riches  of  the 
rich  ?  Ah  me  !  even  the  dollar  flees  to  the  infinite  God 
for  protection,  and  bows  before  the  higher  law  its  wor- 
shippers despise. 

What  moral  guidance  do  the  leading  classes  of  men 
offer  the  people  in  either  England,  — the  European  or 
American  ?  Let  the  laboring  men  of  Great  Britain  an- 
swer; let  Ireland,  about  to  perish,  groan  out  her  reply; 
let  the  three  million  African  slaves  bear  the  report  to 
Heaven.  "  Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion,"  once 
said  some  learned  fool  ;  monopolists  act  on  the  maxim. 
Ignorance  of  truth,  ignorance  of  right, —  will  these  be 
good  directors,  think  you,  of  the  class  which  has  the 
privilege  of  numbers  and  their  multitudinous  agglomer- 
ated power?  "Reverence  the  eternal  right,"  says  con- 
science, "  that  is  moral  piety !  "  "  Reap  as  you  sow," 
quoth  human  history.  Alas  for  a  church  without  right- 
eousness, and  a  State  without  right !  All  history  shows 
their  fate  !  What  is  false  to  justice  cannot  stand  ;  what 
is  true  to  that  cannot  perish.    Nothing  can  save  wrong. 

A  sentence  is  written  against  all  that  is  unjust,  written 
by  God  in  the  nature  of  man  and  the  nature  of  the  uni- 
verse, because  it  is  in  the  nature  of  the  infinite  God. 


OF  JUSTICE  AND   THE   CONSCIENCE.         IGl 

Fidelity  to  your  faculties,  trust  in  their  convictions,  that 
is  justice  to  yourself;  a  life  in  obedience  thereto,  that  is 
justice  towards  men.  Tell  me  not  of  successful  wrong. 
The  gain  of  injustice  is  a  loss,  its  pleasure  suffering. 
Iniquity  seems  to  prosper,  but  its  success  is  its  defeat 
and  shame.  The  knave  deceives  himself.  The  miser, 
starving  his  brother's  body,  starves  also  his  own  soul, 
and  at  death  shall  creep  out  of  his  great  estate  of  injus- 
tice, poor  and  naked  and  miserable.  Whoso  escapes  a 
duty  avoids  a  gain.  Outvrard  judgment  often  fails,  in- 
ward justice  never.  Let  a  man  try  to  love  the  wrong, 
and  do  the  wrong,  it  is  eating  stones,  and  not  bread  ;  the 
swift  feet  of  justice  are  upon  him,  following  with  woollen 
tread,  and  her  iron  hands  are  round  his  neck.  No  man 
can  escape  from  this  —  no  more  than  from  himself. 

At  first  sight  of  the  consequences  of  justice  redressing 
the  evils  of  the  world,  its  aspect  seems  stern  and  awful. 
Men  picture  the  palace  of  this  king  as  hell:  there  is  tor- 
ment and  anguish ;  the  waters  are  in  trouble.  The 
chariot  of  justice  seems  a  car  of  Juggernaut  crushing 
the  necks  of  men ;  they  cry  for  mercy.  But  look  again ; 
the  sternness  all  is  gone ;  nothing  is  awful  there ;  the 
palace  of  justice  is  all  heaven,  as  before  a  hell;  the 
water  is  troubled  only  by  an  angel,  and  to  heal  the  sick ; 
the  fancied  car  of  Juggernaut  is  the  triumphal  chariot 
of  mankind  riding  forth  to  vvelfare.  With  swift  and 
noiseless  feet  justice  follows  the  transgressor  and  clutches 
the  iron  hand  about  his  neck ;  it  was  to  save  him  that 
she  came  with  swift  and  noiseless  tread.  This  is  the 
angel  of  God  that  flies  from  east  to  west,  and  where  she 
stoops  her  broad  wings  it  is  to  bring  the  counsel  of  God, 
and  feed  mankind  with  angels'  bread.  As  an  eagle 
stirreth  up  her  nest,  from  her  own  beak  to  feed  its 
young,  broods  over  their  callow  frame,  and  bears  them 

11 


162  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

on  her  wings,  teaching  them  first  to  fij,  so  comes  jus- 
tice unto  men. 

Sometimes  men  fear  that  justice  will  fail,  wickedness 
appears  so  strong.  On  its  side  are  the  armies,  the 
thrones  of  power,  the  riches,  and  the  glory  of  the  world. 
Poor  men  crouch  down  in  despair.  Shall  justice  fail 
and  perish  out  from  the  world  of  men?  shall  anything 
that  is  wrong  continually  endure  ?  When  attraction 
fails  out  of  the  world  of  matter,  when  God  fails  and 
there  is  no  God,  then  shall  justice  fail,  then  shall  wrong 
be  able  continually  to  endure ;  not  till  then. 

The  unity  of  the  material  world  is  beautiful,  kept  by 
attraction's  universal  force ;  temperance  in  the  body  has 
fair  effects,  and  wisdom  in  the  mind.  The  face  of  na- 
ture, how  fair  it  is ;  the  face  of  strong  and  healthy, 
beauteous  manhood  is  a  dear  thing  to  look  upon.  To 
intellectual  eyes,  the  countenance  of  truth  has  a  majestic 
charm.  Wise  men,  with  cultivated  mind,  understanding, 
imagination,  reason  well  developed,  discovering  and  dis- 
closing truth  and  beauty  to  mankind,  are  a  fair  spectacle. 
But  I  love  the  moral  side  of  Deity  yet  more;  love  God 
as  justice.  His  justice,  our  morality  working  with  that, 
shall  one  day  create  a  unity  amongst  all  men  more  fair 
than  the  face  of  nature,  and  add  a  wondrous  beauty, 
wondrous  happiness,  to  this  great  family  of  men.  Will 
you  fear  lest  a  wrong  should  prove  immortal  ?  So  far 
as  anything  is  false  or  wrong  it  is  weak  ;  so  fat  as  true 
and  right,  is  omnipotently  strong.  Never  fear  that  a 
just  thought  shall  fail  to  be  a  thing ;  the  power  of  God, 
the  wisdom  of  God,  and  the  justice  of  God  are  on  its 
side,  and  it  cannot  fail,  —  no  more  than  God  himself 
can  perish.  Wrong  is  the  accident  of  human  develop- 
ment. Right  is  of  the  substance  of  humanity,  justice 
the  goal  we  are  to  reach. 


OF  JUSTICE  AND   THE   CONSCIENCE.         163 

But  in  human  affairs  the  justice  of  God  must  work 
by  human  means.  Men  are  the  measures  of  GocVs  prin- 
ciples ;  our  morality  the  instrument  of  his  justice,  which 
stilleth  alike  the  waves  of  the  sea,  the  tumult  of  the 
people,  and  the  oppressor's  brutal  laugh.  Justice  is  the 
idea  of  God,  the  ideal  of  man,  tbe  rule  of  conduct  writ 
in  the  nature  of  mankind.  The  ideal  must  become 
actual,  God's  thought  a  human  thing,  made  real  in  a 
reign  of  righteousness,  and  a  kingdom  —  no,  a  common- 
wealth—  of  justice  on  the  earth.  You  and  I  can  help 
forward  that  work.  God  will  not  disdain  to  use  our 
prayers,  our  self-denial,  and  the  little  atoms  of  justice 
that  personally  belong  to  us,  to  establish  his  mighty 
work,  —  the  development  of  mankind. 

You  and  I  may  work  with  him,  and  as  on  the  floor 
of  the  Pacific  Sea  little  insects  lay  the  foundation  of  firm 
islands,  slowly  uprising  from  the  tropic  wave, —  the 
ocean  working  with  their  humble  toil,  —  so  you  and  I 
in  our  iiaily  life,  in  house,  or  field,  or  shop,  obscurely 
faithful,  may  prepare  the  way  for  the  republic  of  right- 
eousness, the  democracy  of  justice  that  is  to  come.  Our 
own  morality  shall  bless  us  here,  —  not  in  our  outward 
life  alone,  but  in  the  inward  and  majestic  life  of  con- 
scieuce.  All  the  justice  we  mature  shall  bless  us  here, 
yea,  and  hereafter ;  but  at  our  death  we  leave  it  added 
to  the  common  store  of  humankind.  Even  the  crumbs 
that  fall  from  our  table  may  save  a  brother's  life.  You 
and  I  may  help  deepen  the  channel  of  human  morality 
in  which  God's  justice  runs,  and  the  wrecks  of  evil, 
which  now  check  the  stream,  be  borne  off  the  sooner  by 
the  strong,  all-conquering  tide  of  right,  the  river  of  God 
that  is  full  of  blessino;. 


164  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 


OF  THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS 
POWERS. 

Let  us  go  on  unto  perfection.  —  Heb.  vi.  1. 

The  highest  product  of  a  nation  is  its  men ;  of  you 
and  me  is  our  character,  the  life  which  we  make  out  of 
our  time.  Our  reputation  is  what  we  come  to  be  thought 
of,  our  character  what  we  come  to  be.  In  this  character 
the  most  important  element  is  the  religious,  for  it  is  to 
be  the  guide  and  director  of  all  the  rest,  the  foundation- 
element  of  human  excellence. 

In  general  our  character  is  the  result  of  three  factors, 
namely,  of  our  nature,  both  that  which  is  human,  and 
which  we  have  as  men  in  common  with  all  mankind, 
and  that  which  is  individual  and  which  we  have  fts  Sarah 
or  George,  in  distinction  from  all  men ;  next,  of  the 
educational  forces  about  us ;  and,  finally,  of  our  own 
will,  which  we  exercise,  and  so  determine  the  use  we 
make  of  the  two  other  factors ;  for  it  is  for  us  to  deter- 
mine whether  we  will  lie  flat  before  natural  instincts  and 
educational  forces,  or  modify  their  action  upon  us. 

What  is  true  in  general  of  all  culture  is  true  in  special 
of  religious  education.  Religious  character  is  the  result 
of  these  three  factors. 

I  suppose  every  earnest  man,  who  knows  what  religion 
is,  desires  to  become  a  religious  man,  to  do  the  most  of 
religious  duty,  have  the  most  of  religious  rights,  and 
enjoy  the  most  of  religious  welfare ;  to  give  the  most 
for  God,  and  receive  the  most  from  him.  It  does  not 
always  appear  so,  yet  really  is.     At  the  bottom  of  our 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     1G5 

hearts  we  all  wish  for  that.  We  have  been  misled  by- 
blind  guides,  who  did  not  always  mean  to  deceive  us ; 
we  have  often  gone  astray,  led  off  by  our  instinctive 
passion  in  youth,  our  voluntary  calculation  in  manhood, 
yet  never  meaning  to  deceive  ourselves.  But  there  is 
none  of  us  who  does  not  desire  to  be  a  religious  man, — 
at  least,  I  never  met  one  who  confessed  it,  or  of  whom  ■ 
I  thought  it  true.  But  of  course,  they  desire  it  with 
various  degrees  of  will. 

Writers  often  divide  men  into  two  classes,  saints  and' 
sinners.     I  like  not  the  division.     The  best  men  are  bad  •• 
enough  in  their  own  eyes.     I  hope  God  is  better  pleased 
with  men  than  we  are  with  ourselves,  there  are  so  many 
things  in  us  all  which  are  there  against  our  consent,  — 
evil  tenants  whom  we  cannot  get  rid  of  as  yet.     Tliat  • 
smoky  chimney  of  an  ill-temper  is  a  torment  to  poor 
Mr.  Fiery,  which  he  has  not  had  coui-age  or  strength  to  • 
remove  in  fifty  winters.     To  "  see  ourselves  as  others  see  ■ 
us,"  would  often  minister  to  pride  and  conceit ;  how 
many  naughty  things,  actions  and  emotions  too,  I  know  •• 
of  myself,  which  no  calumniator  ever  casts  in  my  teeth. 
Yet  take  the  worst  men  whom  you  can  find,  —  men  that 
rob  on  the  highway  with  open  violence,  pirates  on  the 
sea,  the  more  dangerous  thieves  who   devour  widows' 
houses  and  plunder  the  unprotected  in  a  manner  thor- 
oughly legal,  respectable,  and   "  Christian,"  men  that 
steal   from   the    poor ;  —  take    the   tormentors   of    the 
Spanish  Inquisition,  assassins  and  murderers  from  New 
York  and  Naples,  nay,  the  family  of  commissioners  who 
in  Boston  are  willing  to  kidnap  their  fellow-citizens  for 
ten  dollars  a  head,  and  bind  them  and  their  posterity  for 
the  perennial  torture  of  American  slavery  ;  —  even  these 
men  would  curl  and  shudder  at  the  thought  of  being 
without  consciousness  of  God  in  the  world ;  of  living 


166  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

without  any  religion,  and  dying  without  any  religion. 
I  know  some  think  religion  is  rather  uncomfortable  to 
•live  by,  but  the  worst  of  men,  as  the  best,  thinks  it  is 

•  a  good  thing  to  die  with.  Men  repent  of  many  things 
on  a  death-bed  ;  when  the  storm  blows,  all  the  dead 
bodies  are  stirred  in  the  bosom  of  the  sea,  and  no  one 
is  then  sorry  for  his  efforts  to  become  a  religious  man. 
Many  a  man,  who  lives  in  the  violation  of  his  personal, 
domestic,  social,  national,  and  general  human  duties, 
doubtless  contrives  to  think  he  is  a  religious  man,  and 
if  in  the  name  of  Mammon  he  robs  the  widow  of  a  pound, 
he  gives  a  penny  to  the  orphan  in  the  name  of  God,  and 

•thinks  he  serves  each  without  much  offending  the  other. 
Thus,  kidnappers  in  these  times  are  "  exemplary  mem- 
bers "  of  "  Christian  churches,"  where  philanthropy  gets 
roundly  rated  by  the  minister  from  week  to  week,  and 
call  themselves  "  miserable  offenders  "  with  the  devout- 
est  air.  This  is  not  all  sham.  The  men  want  to  keep 
on  good  terms  with  God,  and  take  this  as  the  cheapest, 
as  well  as  the  most  respectable  way.  Louis  the  Fif- 
teenth had  a  private  chapel  dedicated  to  the  "  Blessed 
Virgin"  in  the  midst  of  his  house  of  debauchery,  where 
he  and  his  poor  victims  were  said  to  be  "  very  devout 
after  the  Church  fashion."  Slave-traders  and  kidnap- 
pers take  pains  to  repel  all  calumny  from  their  "  relig- 
ious "  reputation,  and  do  not  practise  their  craft  till 
"  divines  "  assure  them  it  is  patriarchal  and  even  "  Chris- 
tian." I  mention  these  things  to  show  that  men  who 
are  commonly  thought  eminently  atrocious  in  their  con- 
duct and  character,  yet  would  not  willingly  be  without 
religion.  I  shall  take  it  for  granted  that  all  men  wish 
to  acquire  a  religious  character. 

•  I  take  it  this  is  the  idea  of  a  religious  character.  It 
is,  first,  to  be  faithful  to  ourselves,  to  rule  body  and 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     167 

Spirit,  each  by  the  natural  law  thereof;  to  use,  develop, 
and  enjoy  all  the  faculties,  each  in  its  just  proportions, 
all  in  harmonious  action,  developed  to  the  greatest  de- 
gree which  is  possible  under  our  circumstances ;  to  have 
such  an  abiding  consciousness  of  God,  that  you  will 
have  the  fourfold  form  of  piety,  so  often  dwelt  on  before, 
and  be  inwardly  blameless,  harmonious,  and  holy. 

It  is,  next,  to  be  faithful  to  your  fellow-men,  —  to  do 
for  them  what  is  right,  from  right  motives  and  for  right 
ends  ;  to  love  them  as  yourself ;  to  be  useful  to  them  to 
the  extent  of  your  power ;  to  live  in  such  harmony  with 
them  that  you  shall  rejoice  in  their  joys,  and  all  be 
mutually  blessed  with  the  bliss  of  each  other. 

It  is  also  to  be  faithful  to  God,  —  to  know  of  him,  to 
have  a  realizing  sense  of  his  infinite  power,  wisdom,  jus- 
tice, goodness,  and  holiness,  and  so  a  perfect  love  of  God, 
a  perfect  trust  in  him,  a  delight  in  the  infinite  being 
of  God ;  to  love  him  intellectually  in  the  love  of  truth, 
morally  as  justice,  affectionally  as  love,  and  totally  as 
the  infinite  God,  —  Father. and  Mother  too  of  all  this 
world ;  so  to  love  God  that  you  have  no  desire  to 
transcend  his  law  or  violate  your  duty  to  yourself,  your 
brother,  or  your  God ;  so  to  love  him  that  there  shall  be 
no  fear  of  God,  none  for  yourself,  none  for  mankind, 
but  a  perfect  confidence  and  an  absolute  love  shall  take 
the  place  of  every  fear.  In  short,  it  is  to  serve  God  by 
the  normal  use,  development,  and  enjoyment  of  every 
faculty  of  the  spirit,  every  limb  of  the  body,  and  every 
mode  of  power  which  we  possess. 

I  think  such  is  the  ideal  of  a  religious  character ;  that 
there  is  no  one  who  would  not  confess  a  desire  to  be 
religious  in  that  sense,  for  it  is  to  be  a  perfect  man ;  no 
one  who  would  not  make  some  sacrifice  for  this  end ; 
most  men  would  make  a  o-reat  one ;  some  would  leave 


168  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

father   and   mother,  and  lay  down  their  own  lives  to 
secure  it. 

What  are  some  of  the  means  to  this  end,  to  this  grace, 

•  and  this  glory  ?  There  are  four  great  public  educational 
forces,  —  namely,  the  industrial,  political,  literary,  and 
ecclesiastical  action  of  the  people,  represented  by  the 
Business,  the  State,  the  Press,  and  the  Church.     These 

•  have  a  general  influence  in  the  formation  of  the  charac- 
ter, and  so  a  special  influence  in  the  formation  of  the 
religious  character ;  but  as  they  cannot  be  trusted  for 
the  general  work  of  forming  the  character,  no  more  can 

■  they  for  this  special  function.  They  are  less  reliable  in 
religion  than  in  any  other  matter  whatever.  By  these 
forces  the  whole  community  is  a  teacher  of  religion  to 
all  persons  born  therein ;  but  it  can  only  teach  the  mode 
and  degree  of  religion  it  has  itself  learned  and  possessed, 
not  that  which  it  has  not  learned  and  does  not  possess. 
Not  only  can  it  not  teach  a  religion  higher  than  its  own, 
but  it  hinders  you  in  your  attempt  to  learn  a  new  and 
better  mode  of  religion. 

•  For  several  things  we  may  trust  these  public  educa- 
tional forces  in  religion. 

They  teach  you  in  the  general  popular  fear  of  God, 
and  a  certain  outward  reverence  which  comes  of  that, — 
the  popular  sacraments  of  our  time, — to  give  your  bodily 
presence  in  a  meeting-house,  perhaps  to  join  a  sectarian 
church,  and  profess  great  reverence  for  the  Bible. 

They  will  teach  you  the  popular  part  of  your  practical 
duties,  —  personal,  domestic,  social,  ecclesiastical,  and 
political.  But  of  course  they  can  teach  you  only  the 
popular  part. 

They  may  be  relied  on  to  teach  the  majority  of  men 
certain  great  truths,  which  are  the  common  property  of 
Christendom,  —  such  as  the  existence  of  a  God,  the  im- 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     169 

mortality  of  the  soul,  the  certainty  of  a  kind  of  retribu- 
tion, and  the  like.  Then  each  sect  has  certain  truths 
of  its  own  which  it  will  commonly  teach.  Thus  the 
Catholics  will  learn  to  reverence  the  Roman  Church ; 
the  Protestants  to  venerate  the  Bible ;  the  Calvinists  to 
believe  in  the  Trinity,  and  the  Unitarians  in  the  Oneness 
of  God.  All  the  sects  will  teach  a  certain  decorum, — 
the  observance  of  Sunday,  to  honor  the  popular  virtues, 
to  shun  the  unpopular  vices. 

The  educational  forces  tend  to  produce  this  effect. 
You  send  your  boys  to  the  public  schools  of  Boston, 
they  learn  the  disciplines  taught  there,  —  to  read,  write, 
and  calculate.  What  is  not  taught  they  do  not  learn. 
In  Saxony  the  children  learn  German,  Dutch  in  Holland. 
In  the  same  way  the  majority  of  men  learn  the  common 
religion  of  the  community,  and  profess  it  practically  in 
their  markets,  their  houses,  their  halls  of  legislature, 
their  courts,  and  their  jails.  The  commercial  newspa- 
pers, the  proceedings  of  Congress,  the  speeches  of  public 
men,  —  these  are  a  part  of  the  national  profession  of 
faith,  and  show  what  is  the  actual  object  of  worship, 
and  what  the  practical  creed  of  the  nation. 

But  for  any  eminence  of  religion  you  must  look  else- 
where, —  for  any  excellence  of  tlie  sentiment,  any  superi- 
ority of  the  idea,  any  newness  in  the  form  of  religion. 
These  educational  forces  will  teach  you  evanescent  princi- 
ples which  seem  to  suit  your  present  and  partial  interests, 
not  eternal  principles,  which  really  suit  your  universal 
and  everlasting  interests.  In  Jerusalem  these  forces 
might  educate  a  Gamaliel, — never  a  Jesus. 

Charles  River  flows  two  miles  an  hour ;  chips  and 
straws  on  its  surface,  therefore,  if  there  be  no  wind,  will 
float  with  that  velocity.  But  if  a  man  in  a  boat  wishes 
to  go  ten  miles  an  hour,  he  must  row  eight  miles  more 


170  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

than  the  stream  will  carry  him.  So  we  are  all  in  the 
dull  current  of  the  popular  religion,  and  may  trust  it 
to  drift  us  as  fast  as  it  flows  itself ;  we  may  rise  with 
its  flood,  and  be  stranded  and  left  dry  when  it  ebbs  out 
before  some  popular  wickedness  which  blows  from  off 
the  shore.  The  religious  educational  forces  of  a  com- 
mercial town, — you  see  in  the  newspapers  what  religion 
they  will  teach  you;  in  the  streets,  what  men  they  would 
make. 

These  educational  forces  tend  to  make  average  Chris- 
tians, and  their  influence  is  of  great  value  to  the  com- 
munity,—  like  the  discipline  of  a  camp.  But  to  be 
eminent  religious  men  we  must  depend  on  very  different 
helps.     Let  us  look  at  some  of  them. 

There  are  religious  men  who,  by  the  religious  genius 
they  were  born  to,  and  the  religious  use  they  have  made 
thereof,  have  risen  far  above  the  average  of  Christians. 
Such  men  are  the  first  help  ;  and  a  most  important  one 
they  are.  It  is  a  fortunate  thing  when  such  an  one 
stands  in  a  church  whither  the  public  current  drives  in 
the  people,  and  to  the  strength  of  his  nature  adds  the 
strength  of  position.  But  it  is  not  often  that  such  a 
man  stands  in  a  pulpit.  The  common  ecclesiastical 
training  tends  to  produce  dull  and  ordinary  men,  with 
little  individual  life,  little  zeal,  and  only  the  inspiration 
of  a  sect.  However,  if  a  man  of  religious  genius,  by 
some  human  accident,  gets  into  a  pulpit,  he  is  in  great 
danger  of  preaching  himself  out  of  it.  Still  there  are 
such  men,  a  few  of  them,  stationed  along  the  line  of  the 
human  march ;  cities  set  on  a  hill,  which  no  cloud  of 
obloquy  can  wholly  hide  from  sight.  Nay,  they  are 
great  beacons  on  the  shore  of  the  world,  —  light-houses 
on  the  headlands  of  the  coast,  sending  their  guidance 
far  out  to  sea,  to  warn  the  mariner  of  his  whereabouts, 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.      171 

and  welcome  him  to  port  and  peace.  Street-lamps  there 
must  be  for  the  thoroughfares  of  the  town,  shop-lights 
also  for  the  grocer  and  the  apothecary  ;  nay,  hand-lights 
which  are  made  to  be  carried  from  room  to  room  and 
set  down  anywhere,  and  numerous  they  will  ever  be, 
each  having  its  own  function.  This  arrangement  takes 
place  in  the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  in  municipal  affairs, 
for  each  sect  has  its  street-lamps  and  its  shop-lights  to 
guide  men  to  its  particular  huckstery  of  salvation,  and 
little  hand-lights  to  take  into  corners  where  the  salesmen 
and  the  showmen  are  all  ready  with  their  wares.  But 
the  great  Faros  of  Genoa,  and  Eddystone  light-houses  of 
religion,  must  always  be  few  and  far  between ;  the  world 
is  not  yet  rich  enough  in  spirit  to  afford  many  of  this 
sort. 

Yet  even  in  these  men  you  seldom  find  the  wholeness- 
of  religion.  One  has  the  sentiments  thereof;  he  will 
kindle  your  religious  feelings,  your  reverence,  your  de- 
votion, your  trust,  and  your  love  of  God. 

Another  has  only  its  ideas,  —  new  thoughts  about  relig- 
ion, new  truths,  which  he  presents  to  the  minds  of  men. 
Analytic,  he  destroys  the  ancient  errors  of  theological- 
systems,  thrashes  the  creeds  of  the  churches  with  the 
stout  flail  of  philosophy,  and  sifts  them  as  wheat,  win- 
nowing with  a  rough  wind  ;  great  clouds  of  chaff  blow  off 
before  his  mighty  vans.  Synthetic,  he  takes  the  old 
truth  which  stood  the  critical  thrashing  and  is  now  win- 
nowed clean ;  he  joins  therewith  new  truth  shot  down- 
from  God,  and  welcomed  into  loving  arms  ;  and  out  of 
his  large  storehouse  this  scribe,  well  instructed  unto  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  brings  forth  things  new  and  old,  to 
serve  as  bread  for  the  living,  and  seed-corn  to  genera- 
tions not  born  as  yet. 

A   third,   with   no   eminence   of  feelings   commonly  , 


172  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

called  religious,  —  none  of  theological  ideas,  —  will  have 
yet  an  eminence  of  justice,  and  teach  personal  and  so- 
•  cial  morality  as  no  other  man.  He  may  turn  to  a  single 
specialty  of  morals,  and  demand  temperance,  chastity, 
the  reform  of  penal  law,  the  reconstruction  of  society, 
the  elevation  of  woman,  and  the  education  of  the  whole 
mass  of  men  ;  or  he  may  turn  to  general  philanthropy, 
the  universality  of  moral  excellence, —  it  all  comes  from 
the  same  root,  and  with  grateful  welcome  should  be 
received. 

Each  of  these  teachers  will  do  real  service  to  your 
souls,  —  quickening  the  feelings,  imparting  ideas,  and 
organizing  the  results  of  religion  in  moral  acts.  I 
know  a  great  outcry  has  been  made  in  all  the  churches 
against  moral  reformers,  against  men  who  would  apply 
pure  religion  to  common  life,  in  the  special  or  the  uni- 
versal form.  You  all  know  what  clamor  is  always 
raised  against  a  man  who  would  abolish  a  vice  from 
human  society,  or  establish  a  new  virtue.  Every  wolf 
is  interested  in  the  wilderness,  and  hates  the  axe  and 
the  plough  of  the  settler,  and  would  devour  his  child  if 
he  dared.  So  every  nuisance  in  society  has  its  support- 
ers, whose  property  is  invested  therein.  Paul  found  it 
so  at  Ephesus,  Telemachus  at  Rome,  and  Garrison  in 
America.  I  doubt  not  the  men  of  Ephesus  thought  re- 
ligion good  in  all  matters  except  the  making  of  silver 
shrines  for  Diana;  "there  it  makes  men  mad."  Men 
cry  out  against  the  advance  of  morality ;  "  Preach  us 
religion  ;  preach  us  Christianity,  Christ  and  him  cruci- 
fied, and  not  this  infidel  matter  of  ending  particular 
sins,  and  abounding  in  special  virtues.  Preach  us  the 
exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin, '  original  sin,' '  which  brought 
death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe ; '  preach  the 
beauty  of  holiness  and  the  like  of  that,  and  let  alone  the 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     173 

actual  sins  of  society,  of  the  shop  and  the  church  and 
the  State ;  —  be  silent  about  drunkenness  and  lust,  about 
war,  slavery,  and  the  thousand  forms  of  avarice  which 
we  rejoice  in.  Is  it  not  enough,  0  preacher,  that  we 
give  you  of  our  purse  and  our  corporeal  presence,  that 
we  weekly  confess  ourselves  '  miserable  offenders,'  with 
'  no  health  in  us,'  and  fast,  perhaps,  twice  in  our  lives, 
but  you  must  convict  us  of  being  idolaters  also ;  yea, 
drunkards,  gluttons,  impure  in  youth  and  avaricious  in 
manhood,  —  once  a  voluptuary,  and  now  a  hunker !  Go 
to  now,  and  preach  us  the  blessedness  of  the  righteous, 
Christ  and  him  crucified !  "  When  money  speaks  the 
church  obeys,  and  the  pulpit  preaches  for  doctrine  the 
commandments  of  the  pews. 

But  it  is  these  very  moral  reformers,  who,  in  our 
time,  have  done  more  than  all  others  to  promote  the 
feeling  of  piety  which  the  churches  profess  so  much  to 
covet.  The  new  ground  of  religion  which  the  churches 
occupy  is  always  won  for  them  by  men  whom  the 
churches  hated.  In  the  last  thirty  years  these  "  pesti- 
lent moral  reformers"  of  New  England,  I  think,  have 
done  more  to  promote  love  of  God,  and  faith  in  him, 
than  all  the  other  preachers  of  all  the  churches.  Jus- 
tice is  a  part  of  piety  and  such  is  the  instinctive 
love  of  wholeness  in  man,  that  all  attempts  to  promote 
justice  amongst  men  lead  ultimately  to  the  love  of  God 
as  God. 

In  every  community  you  will  find  a  man  who  thus 
represents  some  portion  of  religion,  —  often,  perhaps, 
thinking  that  part  is  the  whole,  because  it  is  all  that  he 
knows ;  here  and  there  we  find  such  an  one  in  the  pul- 
pit. But  now  and  then  there  comes  a  man  who  unites 
these  three  functions  of  piety  into  one  great  glory  of 
religion,  —  is  eminent  in  feelings,  ideas,  and  actions  not 


174  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

•  the  less.  Each  of  those  partial  men  may  help  us  much, 
teaching  his  doctrine,  kindling  our  feelings,  giving  ex- 
ample of  his  deed,  and  laying  out  religious  work  for  us, 
spreading  his  pattern  before  society.  Each  of  these 
may  help  us  to  a  partial  improvement.  But  when  a 
man  comes  who  unites  them  all,  he  will  give  us  a  new 
start,  an  inspiration  which  no  other  man  can  give ;  not 
partial,  but  total. 

There  are  always  some  such  men  in  the  world  ;  the 
seed  of  the  prophets  never  dies  out.  It  comes  up  in 
Israel  and  in  Attica,  —  here  a  prophet  teaching  truth  as 
divine  inspiration,  there  a  philosopher  with  his  human 
discovery.  So  the  herb  of  grace  springs  up  in  corners 
where  once  old  houses  stood,  or  wherever  the  winds 
have  borne  the  seed ;  and,  cropped  by  the  oxen,  and 
trodden  with  their  feet,  it  grows  ever  fresh  and  ever 
new.  When  Scribes  and  Pharisees  become  idolaters  at 
Jerusalem,  and  the  sheep  without  a  shepherd 

"  Look  up  and  are  not  fed, 
But,  swollen  with  wind  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw, 
Hot  inwardly  and  foul  contagion  spread," 

the  spirit  of  God  comes  newly  down  on  some  carpenter's 
Bon  at  Nazareth,  whose  lightning  terrifies  the  non-con- 
ducting Scribe ;  the  new  encounters  the  perishable  old, 
and  all  heaven  rings  with  the  thunder  of  the  collision. 
Now  and  then  such  a  person  comes  to  stand  betwixt 
the  living  and  the  dead.  "  Bury  that,"  quoth  he,  "  it  is 
hopelessly  dead,  past  all  resurrection.  This  must  be 
healed,  tended,  and  made  whole."  He  is  a  physician  to 
churches  sick  of  sin,  as  well  as  with  it ;  burying  the 
dead,  he  heals  also  the  sick,  and  quickens  the  sound 
into  new  and  healthy  life.  But  the  owners  of  swine  that 
perish  must  needs  cry  out  at  the  loss. 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     175 

Yet  such  a  man  is  not  understood  in  liis  own  genera- 
tion. A  man  with  a  single  eminent  faculty  is  soon  seen 
through  and  comprehended.  This  man  is  good  for  noth- 
ing but  practice  ;  that,  only  for  thought.  One  is  a  senti- 
mentalist ;  another  a  traveller.  But  when  a  genius  comes 
eminent  in  many  and  most  heterogeneous  faculties,  men 
do  not  see  through  nor  comprehend  him  in  a  short  time. 
If  he  has  in  himself  all  the  excellence  of  all  the  men  in 
the  metropolis,  —  why,  it  will  take  many  a  great  city  to 
comprehend  him.  The  young  maiden  in  the  story,  for 
the  first  time  hearing  her  clerical  lover  preach,  wondered 
that  those  lips  could  pray  as  sweetly  as  they  kissed,  but 
could  not  comprehend  the  twofold  sacrament,  the  mys- 
tery of  this  double  function  of  a  single  mouth.  Anybody 
can  see  that  corn  grows  in  this  field,  and  kale  in  that ; 
the  roughest  clown  knows  this,  but  it  takes  a  great  many 
wise  men  to  describe  the  botany  of  a  whole  continent. 
So  is  it  ever.  Here  is  a  religious  man,  —  writing  on 
purely  internal  emotions  of  piety,  of  love  of  God,  of  faith 
in  him,  of  rest  for  the  soul,  the  foretaste  of  lieaven.  He 
penetrates  the  deeps  of  religious  joy,  its  peace  enters  his 
soul,  his  morning  prayer  is  a  psalm  deeper  than  David's, 
with  a  beauty  more  various  than  the  poetic  wreath  which 
the  shepherd-king  gathered  from  the  hill-sides  of  Jordan 
or  the  gardens  of  Mount  Zion.  Straightway  men  say : 
"  This  man  is  a  sentimentalist ;  he  is  a  mystic,  all  con- 
templation, all  feeling,  —  poetical,  dreamy,  —  his  light 
is  moon-shine."  But  ere  long  our  sentimentalist  writes 
of  philosophy,  and  his  keen  eye  sees  mines  of  wisdom 
not  quarried  heretofore,  and  he  brings  a  power  of  un- 
sunned gold  to  light.  Other  men  say  :  "  Oh,  this  man  is 
nothing  but  a  philosopher,  a  mere  thinker,  a  mighty 
head,  but  with  no  more  heart  than  Chimborazo  or 
Thomas  Hobbes."     Yet  presently  some  great  sin  breaks 


176  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

out,  and  rolls  its  desolating  flood  over  the  land,  uproot- 
ing field  and  town,  and  our  philosopher  goes  out  to 
resist  the  ruin.  He  denounces  the  evil,  attacks  the 
•  institution  which  thus  deceives  men.  Straightway  men 
call  out :  "  Iconoclast !  Boanerges  !  John  Knox  !  de- 
stroyer ! "  and  the  like.  Alas  me !  men  do  not  know 
that  the  same  sun  gathers  the  dews  which  water  the 
forget-me-not,  drooping  at  noon-day,  and  drives  through 
the  sky  the  irresistible  storm  that  shatters  the  forest  in 
its  thunderous  march,  and  piles  the  ruins  of  a  mountain 
in  an  Alpine  avalanche.  The  same  soul  which  thun- 
dered its  forked  lightning  on  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites,  poured  out  poetic  parables  from  his  golden 
urn,  spreading  forth  the  sunshine  of  the  beatitudes  upon 
friend  and  foe,  and,  half  in  heaven,  breathed  language 
wholly  thence,  —  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do." 

It  is  a  great  thing  once  in  our  days  to  meet  with  a 
man  of  religious  genius  largely  developed  into  lovely 
life.  He  stirs  the  feelings  infinite  within  us,  and  we  go 
off  quite  other  than  we  came.  He  has  not  put  his  soul 
•into  our  bosom;  he  has  done  better, —  has  waked  our 
soul  in  our  own  bosom.  Men  may  go  leagues  long  to 
listen  to  such  a  man,  and  come  back  well  paid.  He 
gives  us  seeds  of  future  life  for  our  little  garden.  So 
the  husbandman  journeys  far  to  get  a  new  root  or  a 
new  seed,  to  fill  his  ground  with  beauty  or  his  home 
with  bread.  After  we  have  listened  to  the  life  of  such 
a  man,  the  world  does  not  seem  so  low,  nor  man  so 
mean ;  heaven  looks  nearer,  yet  higher  too ;  humanity 
is  more  rich  ;  if  wrong  appear  yet  more  shameful,  the 
wrongdoer  is  not  so  hopeless.  After  that  I  can  endure 
trouble  ;  my  constant  cross  is  not  so  heavy ;  the  unwonted 
is  less  difficult  to  bear.     Tears  are  not  so  scalding  to 


CULTURE    OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     177 

an  eye  which  has  looked  through  them  into  the  serene 
face  of  a  great-souled  man.  Men  seem  friendlier,  and 
God  is  exceeding  dear.  The  magistrates  of  Jerusalem 
marvelled  at  the  conduct  of  Peter  and  John,  heedful  of 
the  higher  law  of  God,  spite  of  bonds  and  imprisonment 
and  politicians;  but  they  "  took  knowledge  of  them,  that 
they  had  been  with  Jesus,"  and  the  marvel  had  its  ex- 
planation. What  a  dull,  stupid  thing  is  a  candle  !  Touch 
it  with  fire,  and  then  look !  We  are  all  of  us  capable  of 
being  lit  when  some  Prometheus  comes  down  with  the 
spark  of  God  in  his  right  hand.  The  word  of  Jesus 
touched  the  dull  fisliermen  of  Galilee,  and  they  flamed 
into  martyrs  and  apostles. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  meet  such  a  man  once  in  your 
lifetime,  to  be  cheered  and  comforted  in  your  sad  way- 
faring, and  filled  with  new  vigor  and  new  faith  in  the 
Father  of  all.  After  that  we  thank  God,  and  take  cour- 
age and  fare  on  our  happier  way.  So  a  company  of  pil- 
grims journeying  in  the  wilderness,  dry,  foot-sore,  and 
hot,  the  water  all  spent  in  their  goat-skins,  their  camels 
weary  and  sick,  come  to  a  grove  of  twelve  palm-trees, 
and  an  unexpected  spring  of  pure  water  wells  up  in 
the  desert.  Straightway  their  weariness  is  all  forgot, 
their  limping  camels  have  become  whole  once  more. 
Staying  their  thirst,  they  fill  their  bottles  also  with  the 
cool  refreshment,  rest  in  the  shadow  from  the  noonday's 
heat,  and  then  with  freshened  life,  the  soreness  gone 
from  every  bone,  pursue  their  noiseless  and  their  happy 
march.  Even  so,  says  the  Old  Testament  story,  God 
sent  his  angel  down  in  the  wilderness  to  feed  Elias  with 
the  bread  of  heaven,  and  in  the  strength  thereof  the 
prophet  went  his  forty  days,  nor  hungered  not.  I  sup- 
pose some  of  us  have  had  this  experience,  and  in  our 
time  of  bewilderment,  of  scorching  desolation,  and  of 

12 


178  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

sorrow,  have  come  upon  our  well  of  water  and  twelve 
palm-trees  in  the  sand,  and  so  have  marched  all  joyful 
through  the  wilderness.  Elias  left  all  the  angels  of  God 
for  you  and  me,  —  the  friendlier  for  his  acquaintance. 

There  is  a  continual  need  of  men  of  this  stamp.  We 
live  in  the  midst  of  religious  machinery.  Many  mechanics 
at  piety,  often  only  apprentices  and  slow  to  learn,  are 
turning  the  various  ecclesiastical  mills,  and  the  creak  of 
the  motion  is  thought  "  the  voice  of  God."  Yon  put  into 
the  hopper  a  crowd  of  persons,  young  and  old,  and  soon 
they  are  ground  out  into  the  common  run  of  Christians, 
sacked  up,  and  stored  away  for  safe-keeping  in  the  ap- 
propriate bins  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  establishment, 
and  labelled  with  their  party  names.  You  look  about 
in  what  is  dryly  called  "  the  religious  world."  What  a 
mass  of  machinery  is  there,  of  dead  timber,  not  green 
trees  !  what  a  jar  and  discord  of  iron  clattering  upon 
iron  !  Action  is  of  machinery,  not  of  life,  and  it  is 
green  new  life  that  you  want.  So  men  grow  dull  in 
their  churches.  What  a  weariness  is  an  ordinary  meet- 
ing on  one  of  the  fifty-two  ordinary  Sundays  of  the  year! 
What  a  dreary  thing  is  an  ordinary  sermon  of  an  ordin- 
ary minister !  He  does  not  wish  to  preach  it ;  the  audi- 
ence does  not  wish  to  hear  it.  So  he  makes  a  feint  of 
preaching,  they  a  feint  of  hearing  him  preach.  But  he 
preaches  not ;  they  hear  not.  He  is  dull  as  the  cushion 
he  beats,  they  as  the  cushions  they  cover.  A  body  of 
men  met  in  a  church  for  nothing,  and  about  nothing,  and 
to  hear  nobody,  is  to  me  a  ghastly  spectacle.  Did  you 
ever  see  cattle  in  a  cold  day  in  the  country  crowd  to- 
gether in  an  enclosure,  the  ground  frozen  under  their 
feet,  and  no  hay  spread  upon  it,  —  huddling  together  for 
warmth,  hungry,  but  inactive,  because  penned  up,  and 
waiting  with  the  heavy,  slumberous  patience  of  oxen  till 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     179 

some  man  should  come  and  shake  down  to  them  a  truss 
of  clean  bright  hay,  still  redolent  of  clover  and  honey- 
suckle ?  That  is  a  cheerful  sight ;  and  when  the  farmer 
comes  and  hews  their  winter  food  out  of  the  stack,  what 
life  is  in  these  slumberous  oxen !  their  venerable  eyes 
are  full  of  light,  because  they  see  their  food.  Ah  me  ! 
how  many  a  herd  of  men  is  stall-hungered  in  the  churches, 
not  getting  even  the  hay  of  religion,  only  a  little  chaff 
swept  off  from  old  thrashing-floors  whence  the  corn 
which  great  men  beat  out  of  its  husk  was  long  since 
gathered  up  to  feed  and  bless  mankind  !  Churches  are 
built  of  stone.  I  have  often  thought  pulpits  should  be 
cushioned  with  husks. 

Of  all  melancholy  social  sights  that  one  sees,  few  are 
so  sad  as  a  body  of  men  got  together  to  convert  mankind 
to  sectarianism  by  ecclesiastical  machinery,  —  men  dead 
as  timber,  cut  down,  dead  and  dry  !  Out  of  wire,  muslin, 
thread,  starch,  gum,  and  sundry  chemicals,  French  milli- 
ners make  by  dozens  what  they  call  roses,  lilies  of  the 
valley,  forget-me-nots,  and  the  like.  Scentless  and  seed- 
less abortions  are  they,'  and  no  more.  What  a  difference 
between  the  flower  the  lover  gathers  by  the  brook-side 
for  his  maiden's  breast,  and  the  thing  which  the  milliner 
makes  with  her  scissors  ;  between  the  forget-me-not  of 
the  meadow  and  the  forget-me-not  of  the  shop  !  Such 
an  odds  is  there  betwixt  religious  men  and  Christians 
manufactured  in  a  mill. 

In  the  factories  of  England  you  find  men  busy  all 
their  life  in  making  each  the  twenty-sixth  part  of  a 
watch.  They  can  do  nothing  else,  and  become  almost 
as  much  machines  as  the  grindstone  which  sharpens 
their  drill,  or  the  rammage  which  carries  their  file. 
Much  ot  our  ecclesiastical  machinery  tends  to  make 
men  into  mere  fixtures  in  a   mill.     So  there  must  be 


180  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

a  continual  accession  of  new  religious  life  from  without 
into  the  churches  to  keep  Christians  living.  Men  of 
religious  genius  it  is  who  bring  it  in.  Without  them 
"  religion "  in  cities  would  become  mere  traditional 
theology,  and  "  life  in  God  "  would  be  sitting  in  a  meet- 
ing-house, and  the  baptism  in  water  from  an  aqueduct 
taken  for  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Blessed 
be  God  that  there  are  such  men  not  smothered  in  the 
surplice  of  the  priest,  but  still  alive  in  God,  and  God 
alive  in  them ! 

In  old  towns  all  the  water  that  fills  the  wells  is  dead 
water,  —  dead  and  dirty  too ;  the  rinsings  of  the  streets, 
the  soakings  of  stables,  the  slop  of  markets,  the  wash 
and  offscouring  of  the  town ;  even  the  filterings  of  the 
graveyard  settle  therein,  and  the  child  is  fed  with  its 
grandsire's  bones.  Men  would  perish  if  left  alone,  dying 
of  their  drink.  So,  far  off  in  the  hills,  above  the  level 
of  the  town,  they  seek  some  mountain  lake,  and  furnish 
a  pathway  that  its  crystal  beauty  may  come  to  town. 
There  the  living  water  leaps  up  in  public  fountains,  it 
washes  the  streets,  it  satisfies  the  blameless  cattle,  it 
runs  into  every  house  to  cleanse  and  purify  and  bless, 
and  men  are  glad  as  the  Hebrews  when  Moses  smote  the 
fabled  rock.  So  comes  religious  genius  unto  men ;  some 
mountain  of  a  man  stands  up  tall,  and  all  winter  long 
takes  the  snows  of  heaven  on  his  shoulders,  all  sum- 
mer through  he  receives  the  cold  rain  into  his  bosom ; 
both  become  springs  of  living  water  at  his  feet.  Then 
the  proprietors  of  fetid  wells  and  subterranean  tanks, 
which  they  call  "  Bethesda,"  though  often  troubled  by 
other  than  angels,  and  whence  they  retail  their  "  sal- 
vation "  a  pennyworth  at  a  time,  —  they  cry  out  with 
sneer  and  scoff  and  scorn  against  our  new-born  saint. 
"  Shall   Christ    come  out    of    Galilee  ?  "    quoth    they. 


CULTURE   OF   THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     181 

"  Art  thou  greater  than  our  father  Jacob,  who  gave 
us  this  well,  and  drank  thereof  himself,  and  his  ciiil- 
dren,  and  his  cattle  ?  Who  are  you  ? "  Thus  the  man 
of  forms  has  ever  his  calumny  against  the  man  of 
God. 

Religious  teachers  there  will  ever  be,  —  a  few  organ- 
izers, many  an  administrator  of  organizations ;  but  in- 
ventors in  religion  are  always  few.  These  are  the 
greatest  external  helps  to  the  manhood  of  religion.  All 
great  teaching  is  the  teacher's  inspiration ;  this  is  truer 
in  religion  than  in  aught  besides,  for  here  all  is  life,  and 
nothing  a  trick  of  mechanism.  Let  us  take  all  the  good 
that  we  can  gain  from  the  rare  men  of  religious  genius, 
but  never  submit  and  make  even  them  our  lords ;  teachers 
ever,  let  them  never  be  masters. 

Then  there  are  religious  books,  such  as  waken  the 
soul  by  their  direct  action,  —  stirring  us  to  piety,  stirring 
us  to  morality,  —  books  in  which  men  of  great  religious 
growth  have  garnered  up  the  experience  of  their  life. 
Some  of  them  are  total,  —  for  all  religion  ;  some  partial, 
for  the  several  specialities  thereof.  These  books  are 
sacks  of  corn  carried  from  land  to  land,  to  be  sown  and 
bear  manifold  their  golden  fruit.  There  are  not  many 
such  in  the  world.  There  are  few  masterpieces  of  poetry 
in  all  the  earth  ;  a  boy's  school-bag  would  hold  them  all, 
from  Greece  and  Rome,  Italy,  Germany,  England.  The 
masterpieces  of  piety  in  literature  are  the  rarest  of  all. 
In  a  mineralogist's  cabinet  what  bushels  there  are  of 
quartz,  mica,  hornblende,  slate,  and  coal ;  and  common 
minerals  by  heaps  ;  reptiles  and  fishes  done  in  stone  ; 
only  here  and  there  an  emerald  ;  and  diamonds  are  ex- 
ceeding rare.  So  is  it  with  gems  of  holv  thought.  Some 
psalms  are  there  from  the  Bible,  though  seldom  a  whole 
one  that  is  true  to  the  soul  of  man,  —  now  and  tlicn  an 


182  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

oracle  from  a  Hebrew  prophet,  full  of  faith  in  God,  a 

•  warrior  of  piety,  —  which  keep  their  place  in  the  cabinet 
of  religion,  though  two  or  three  thousand  years  have 
passed  by  since  their  authors  ceased  to  be  mortal.     But 

•the  most  quickening  of  all  religious  literature  is  still 
found  in  the  first  three  Gospels  of  the  New  Testament, 
—  in  those  dear  beatitudes,  in  occasional  flowers  of  reli- 
gion, parable  and  speech.  The  beatitudes  will  outlast 
the  pyramids.  Yet  the  New  Testament  and  its  choicest 
texts  must  be  read  with  the  caution  of  a  free-born  man. 
Even  in  the  words  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  much  is  merely 
Hebrew, . —  marked  with  the  limitations  of  the  nation 
and  the  man. 

Other  religious  books  there  are  precious  to  the  heart 

•  of  man.  Some  of  the  works  of  Augustine,  of  Thomas 
k  Kempis,  of  Fenelon,  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  of  John  Bunyan, 
of  William  Law,  have  proved  exceeding  dear  to  pious 
men  throughout  the  Christian  world.  In  a  much  nar- 
rower circle  of  readers,  Buckminster,  Channing,  and 
Ware  have  comforted  the  souls  of  men.  Herbert  and 
Watts  have  here  and  there  a  "  gem  of  purest  ray  serene," 
and  now  and  then  a  flower  blooms  into  beauty  in  the 
desert  air  of  liturgies,  breviaries,  and  collections  of 
hymns.  The  religious  influence  of  Wordsworth's  poetry 
has  been  truly  great.  With  no  large  poetic  genius,  often 
hemmed  in  by  the  narrowness  of  his  traditionary  creed 
and  the  puerile  littleness  of  men  about  him,  he  had  yet 
an  exceeding  love  of  God,  which  ran  over  into  love  of 
men,  and  beautified  his  every  day;  and  many  a  poor 
girl,  many  a  sad  boy,  has  been  cheered  and  lifted  up  in 
soul  and  sense  by  the  brave  piety  in  his  sonnets  and  in 
his  lyric  sweeps  of  lofty  song.  A  writer  of  our  own  time, 
with  large  genius  and  unfaltering  piety,  adorning  a  little 
village  of  New  England  with  his  fragrant  life,  has  sent 


CULTURE   OF   THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     183 

a  great  religious  influence  to  many  a  house  in  field  and 
town,    and   youths    and   maids    rejoice   in   his    electric 
touch.     I  will  leave  it  to  posterity  to  name  his  name, — 
the   most  original,  as  well   as   religious,  of    American- 
"writers. 

But  the  great  vice  of  what  is  called  "  religious  litera- 
ture" is  this.  It  is  the  work  of  narrow-minded  men, 
sectarians,  and  often  bigots,  who  cannot  see  beyond  their 
own  little  partisan  chapel,  —  men  who  know  little  of  any- 
thing, less  of  man,  and  least  of  all  of  real  religion.  What 
criticism  do  such  men  make  on  noble  men  ?  The  criti- 
cism of  an  oyster  on  a  thrush  ;  nay,  sometimes,  of  a 
toad  "  ugly  and  venomous,"  with  no  "  jewel  in  its  head," 
upon  a  nightingale.  Literature  of  that  character  is  a 
curse.  In  the  name  of  God  it  misleads  common  men 
from  religion,  and  it  makes  powerful  men  hate  religion 
itself,  —  at  least  hate  its  name.  It  bows  weak  men  down 
till  they  tremble  and  fear  all  their  mortal  life.  I  lack 
words  to  express  my  detestation  of  this  trash,  —  con- 
cocted of  sectarian  cant  and  superstitious  fear.  I  tremble 
when  I  think  of  the  darkness  it  spreads  over  human 
life,  of  the  disease  which  it  inoculates  mankind  withal, 
and  the  craven  dread  it  writes  out  upon  the  face  of  its 
worshippers.  Look  at  the  history  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed  and  the  Westminster  Catechism.  They  have 
done  more,  it  seems  to  me,  to  retard  the  religious  de- 
velopment of  Christendom  than  all  the  ribald  works  of 
confessed  infidels,  from  Lucian,  the  king  of  scofi^ers, 
down  to  our  own  days.  .  .  . 

Some  books  on  religious  matters  are  the  work  of  able 
men,  men  well  disciplined,  but  yet  contaminated  with 
false  views  of  God,  of  man,  and  of  the  relation  between 
the  two ;  with  false  views  of  life,  of  death,  and  of  the 
next,  eternal  world.     Such  men  were  Baxter  and  Ed-  • 


184  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

wards  and  many  more,  —  Protestant  and  Catholic,  Chris- 
tian, Hebrew,  Buddhist,  and  Mahometan.  All  these 
books  should  be  read  with  caution  and  distrust.     Still 

■  a  wise  man,  with  a  religious  spirit,  in  the  religious  liter- 
ature of  the  world,  from  Confucius  to  Emerson,  may 
find  much  to  help  his  growth. 

After  the  attainment  of  manlier  years  in  piety,  other 
works,  not  intentionally  religious,  will  help  a  man  greatly. 

■  Books  of  science,  which  show  the  thought  of  God  writ 
in  the  world  of  matter ;  books  of  history,  which  reveal 
the  same  mind  in  the  development  of  the  human  race, 
slow,  but  as  constant  and  as  normal  as  the  growth  of 
a  cedar  or  the  disclosing  of  an  egg;  Newton  and  La- 
place,  Descartes   and   Kant,   indirectly,   through    their 

•  science,  stir  devout  souls  to  deeper  devotion.  A  thought- 
ful man  dissolves  the  matter  of  the  universe,  leaving 
only  its  forces ;  dissolves  away  the  phenomena  of  human 
history,  leaving  only  immortal  spirit ;  he  studies  the 
law,  the  mode  of  action,  of  these  forces,  and  this  spirit, 
which  make  up  the  material  and  the  human  world  ;  and 
I  see  not  how  he  can  fail  to  be  filled  with  reverence,  with 
trust,  with  boundless  love  of  the  infinite  God  who  de- 
vised these  laws  of  matter  and  of  mind,  and  thereby 
bears  up  this  marvellous  universe  of  things  and  men. 
Science  also  has  its  New  Testament.     The  beatitudes  of 

■  philosophy  are  profoundly  touching ;  in  the  exact  laws 
of  matter  and  of  mind  the  great  Author  of  the  world 
continually  says,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

;  The  study  of  nature  is  another  great  help  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  religion.  Familiarity  with  the  grass  and  the 
trees  teaches  us  deeper  lessons  of  love  and  trust  than  we 
can  glean  from  the  writings  of  Fenelon  and  Augustine. 
What  lessons  did  Socrates,  Jesus,  and   Luther,  learn 


CULTURE   OF   THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     185 

from  the  great  Bible  of  God,  ever  open  before  mankind  ! 
It  is  only  indirectly  that  He  speaks  in  the  sight  of  a  city, 
—  the  brick  garden  with  dioecious  fops  for  flowers.  But 
in  the  country  all  is  full  of  God,  and  the  eternal  flowers 
of  heaven  seem  to  shed  sweet  influence  on  the  perish- 
able blossoms  of  the  earth.  Nature  is  full  of  religious 
lessons  to  a  thoughtful  man.  The  great  sermon  of 
Jesus  was  preached  on  a  mountain,  which  preached  to 
him  as  he  to  the  people,  and  his  figures  of  speech  were 
first  natural  figures  of  fact.  But  the  religious  use  to 
be  made  of  natural  objects  would  require  a  sermon  of 
itself. 

The  great  reliance  for  religious  growth  must  not  be  ■ 
on  anything  external ;  not  on  the  great  and  living  souls 
whom  God  sends,  rarely,  to  the  earth,  to  water  the  dry 
ground  with  their  eloquence,  and  warm  it  with  their 
human  love ;  nor  must  it  be  on  the  choicest  gems  of 
religious  thought,  wherein  saints  and  sages  have  gar- 
nered up  their  life  and  left  it  for  us.     We  cannot  rely 
on  the  beauty  or  the  power  of  outward  nature  to  charm 
our   wandering   soul   to   obedience   and   trust   in    God. 
These  things  may  jostle  us  by  the  elbow  when  we  read, 
warn  us  of  wandering,  or  of  sloth,  and  open  the  gate, 
but  we  must  rely  on  ourselves  for  entering  in.     By  the  •• 
aid  of  others  and  our  own  action  we  must  form  the  ideal 
of  a  religious  man,  of  what  we  ought  to  be  and  do,  under 
our  peculiar  circumsttyices.     To  form  this  personal  ideal,  •• 
and  fit  ourselves  thereto,  requires  an  act  of  great  earnest- 
ness on  our  part.     It  is  not  a  thing  to  be  done  in  an  idle  • 
hour.     It  demands  the  greatest  activity  of  the  mightiest  ■ 
mode  of  mind.     But  what  a  difference  there  is  between- 
men  in  earnestness  of  character !     Do  you  understand 
the  "religion"  of  a  frivolous  man?     With  him  it  is  all- 
a  trifle ;  the  fashion  of  his  religion  is  of  less  concern 


186  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

than  the  fashion  of  his  hat  or  of  the  latchet  of  his  shoes. 
He  asks  not  for  truth,  for  justice,  for  love,  —  asks  not 
for  God,  cares  not.  The  great  sacrament  of  religious 
life  is  to  him  less  valuable  than  a  flask  of  Rhenish  wine 
broke  on  a  jester's  head.  The  specific  levity  of  these 
men  appears  in  their  relation  to  religion.  The  fool  hath 
•  said  in  his  heart,  "  There  is  no  God."  Quoth  the  fop  in 
his  waistcoat,  "  What  if  there  be  none?  What  is  that 
to  me  ?  Let  us  dance  and  be  silly ! "  Did  you  ever  see 
a  frivolous  man  and  maid  in  love,  — so  they  called  it? 
I  have :  it  was  like  putting  on  a  new  garment  of  un- 
certain fit;  and  the  giving  and  the  taking  of  what  was 
called  a  "  heart "  was  like  buying  a  quantity  of  poison 
weed  to  turn  to  empty  smoke.  They  were  "fearfully 
and  wonderfully  made  for  each  other."  So  have  I  seen 
a  silly  man  give  a  bad  coin  to  a  beggar  in  the  streets. 

I  know  there  are  those  whose  practical  religion  is 
only  decency.  They  have  no  experience  of  religion  but 
the  hiring  of  a  seat  in  a  church  where  pew  and  pulpit 
both  invite  to  sleep,  —  whose  only  sacrifice  is  their  pew- 
tax  ;  their  single  sacrament  but  bodily  presence  in  a 
church.  There  are  meeting-houses  full  of  such  men, 
which  ecclesiastical  upholsterers  have  furnished  with 
pulpit  and  pew  and  priest,  objects  of  pity  to  men  with 
human  hearts ! 

When  an  earnest  young  man  offers  a  woman  his  heart 
and  his  life  and  his  love,  asking  her  for  her  heart  and 
her  life  and  her  love,  it  is  no  easy  hour  to  man  or  maid. 
The  thought  of  it  takes  the  rose  out  of  the  young  cheek, 
gives  a  new  lustre  to  the  eye  which  has  a  deeper  and 
mysterious  look,  and  a  terrible  throbbing  to  the  heart. 
For  so  much  depends  upon  a  word  that  forms  or  else 
misshapes  so  much  in  life,  and  soul  and  sense  are 
clamoring  for  their  right.     The  past  comes  up  to  help 


CULTURE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     187 

create  the  future,  and   all   creation  is  new  before  the 
lover's  eye,  and  all 

"  The  floor  of  heaven 
Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold." 

So  is  it  in  some  great  hour  when  an  earnest  man  holds 
communion  with  himself,  seeking  to  give  and  take  with 
God,  and  asks,  "  What  ought  I  in  my  life  to  be  and  do?" 
Depend  upon  it,  only  to  the  vulgarest  of  men  is  it  a  com- 
mon hour.  I  will  not  say  that  every  earnest  man  has 
his  one  enamoured  hour  of  betrothing  himself  to  religion. 
Some  have  this  sudden  experience,  and  give  themselves 
to  piety  as  they  espouse  a  bride  found  when  not  looked 
for,  and  welcomed  with  a  great  swelling  of  the  heart 
and  prophetic  bloomings  of  the  yearning  soul.  Others 
go  hand  in  hand  therewith  as  brother  and  sister,  through 
all  their  early  days  in  amiable  amity  which  sin  has  never 
broke  and  seldom  jarred ;  and  so  the  wedlock  of  relig- 
ion is  as  the  acquaintance  which  began  in  babyhood,  was 
friendship  next  at  home  and  school,  and  slowly  under 
tranquil  skies  grew  up  and  blossomed  out  at  last  to  love. 
This  is  the  common  way,  —  an  ascent  without  a  sudden  • 
leap.  If  bred  as  religious  children,  you  grow  up  relig- 
ious men.  But  under  the  easiest  of  discipline,  I  think, 
every  earnest  man  has  his  time  of  trial  and  of  question- 
ing, when  he  asks  himself,  "  Shall  I  serve  the  soul  by  a 
life  of  piety ;  or  shall  I  only  serve  the  flesh,  listing  in 
the  popular  armada  of  worldliness  to  do  battle  in  that 
leprous  host  ?  "     That,  I  say,  is  a  time  of  trial. 

Let  us  suppose  some  earnest  man  forms  the  true  ideal  . 
of  religion,  —  of  his  duty  to  himself,  his  brother,  and 
his  God.     He  is  next  to  observe  and  attend  to  himself, 
making  his  prayer  a  practice,  and  his  ideal  dream  an  • 
actual  day  of  life.     Here  he  is  to  watch  and  scan  him-  • 
self,  to  see  what  causes  help,  and  what  hinder  him  in  • 


188  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

his  religious  growth.  We  have  different  dispositions, 
all  of  us  ;  what  tempts  one,  is  nothing  to  another  man  ; 
every  heart  knows  only  its  own  bitterness,  not  also  that 
of  another.  Let  me  know  my  weak  points  and  my  strong 
ones  ;  forewarned,  I  shall  be  then  forearmed.  This  man 
in  the  period  of  passion  is  led  off  by  the  lusts  of  the 
body ;  that  in  the  period  of  calculation  is  brought  into 
yet  greater  peril  by  his  ambition,  —  his  love  of  riches, 
place,  and  the  respect  of  men.  The  Devil  rings  a  dollar 
in  one  man's  ear ;  he  dreams  of  money  every  day.  Some 
sensual  lust  catches  another,  as  flies  with  poisoned  sweet. 
To  speak  mythologically,  the  Devil  has  different  baits  to 
lure  his  diverse  prey.  Love  of  applause  strips  this  man 
of  his  conscience,  his  affection,  and  his  self-respect,  of 
his  regard  for  God,  and  drives  him  naked  through  a 
dirty  world.  Let  a  man  know  in  what  guise  the  tempter 
comes,  and  when,  and  he  will  not  suffer  his  honor  to  be 
broken  through.  For  this  purpose,  in  the  earlier  period 
of  life,  or  later  when  placed  in  positions  of  new  peril,  it 
is  well  to  ask  at  the  close  of  every  day,  "What  have  I 
done  that  is  wrong,  —  what  have  I  said,  or  thought,  or 
felt  ?  What  that  is  right  ? "  It  is  well  thus  to  orient 
yourself  before  your  idea  and  your  God,  and  see  if  there 
be  any  evil  thing  in  you.  This  is  needful  until  the  man 
has  gained  complete  possession  of  every  limb  of  his  body 
and  of  each  faculty  of  his  spirit,  and  can  use  them  each 
after  its  own  law  in  his  particular  position.  Then  he 
will  do  right  with  as  little  trouble  as  he  walks  about  his 
daily  work.     His  life  will  sanctify  itself. 

Do  you  know  how  artists  make  their  great  pictures  ? 

First,  they  form  the  idea.     It  is  a  work  of  sweat  and 

,  watching.     The  man  assembles  all  the  shapes  of  beauty 

and  of   power  which  he  has  ever  seen,  or  thought,  or 

fancied,  or  felt.     They  flash  along  before  his  quickened 


CULTURE   OF   THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     189 

eye,  wildercd  and  wandering  now.  New  forms  of  beauty 
spring  into  life  at  the  bidding  of  his  imagination, —  so 
flowers  at  touch  of  spring.  Ere  long  he  has  his  idea, 
composite,  gathered  from  many  a  form  of  partial  beauty, 
and  yet  one  ;  a  new  creation  never  seen  before.  Thus 
in  his  seething  mind  Phidias  smelts  the  several  beauty  of 
five  hundred  Spartan  maids  into  his  one  Pallas-Athena, 
born  of  his  head  this  time,  a  grand  eclecticism  of  loveli- 
ness. So  Michael  devised  his  awful  form  of  God  creating 
in  the  Vatican ;  and  Raphael  his  dear  Cecilia,  sweetest 
of  pictured  saints,  —  so  fair,  she  drew  the  angels  down 
to  see  her  sing,  and  ears  were  turned  to  eyes.  Now  the 
artist  has  formed  his  idea.  But  that  is  not  all.  Next, 
he  must  make  the  idea  that  is  in  his  mind  a  picture  in 
the  eyes  of  men;  his  personal  fiction  must  become  a 
popular  fact.  So  he  toils  over  this  new  work  for  many 
a  weary  day,  and  week,  and  month,  and  year,  with  peni- 
tential brush  oft  painting  out  what  once  amiss  he  painted 
in, — for  even  art  has  its  error,  the  painter's  sin,  and  so 
its  remorse  ;  the  artist  is  made  wiser  by  his  own  defeat.  ■ 
At  last  his  work  stands  there  complete,  —  the  holy  queen 
of  art.  Genius  is  the  father,  of  a  heavenly  line ;  but  the 
mortal  mother,  that  is  industry. 

Now  as  an  artist,  like  Phidias,  Angelo,  or  Raphael, 
must  hold  a  great  act  of  imagination  to  form  his  idea, 
and  then  industriously  toil,  often  wiping  out  in  remorse 
what  he  drew  in  passion  or  in  ignorance ;  so  the  man 
who  would  be  religious  must  hold  his  creative  act  of 
prayer,  to  set  the  great  example  to  himself,  and  then  • 
industriously  toil  to  make  it  daily  life,  shaping  his  act-- 
ual,  not  from  the  chance  of  circumstance,  but  from  the 
ideal  purpose  of  his  soul. 

There  is  no  great  growth  in  manly  piety  without  fire  : 
to  conceive,  and  then  painstaking  to  reproduce  the  idea,. 


190  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

■  —  without  the  act  of  prayer,  the  act  of  industry.  The 
act  of  prayer,  —  that  is  the  one  great  vital  means  of 
religious  growth  ;  the  resolute  desire  and  the  unconquer- 
able will  to  be  the  image  of  a  perfect  man  ;  the  compari- 
son of  your  actual  day  with  your  ideal  dream  ;  the  rising 
forth,  borne  up  on  mighty  pens,  to  fly  towards  the  far 
heaven  of  religious  joy.  Fast  as  you  learn  a  truth,  moral, 
affectional,  or  religious,  apply  the  special  truth  to  daily 
life,  and  you  increase  your  piety.  So  the  best  school  for 
religion  is  the  daily  work  of  common  life,  with  its  daily 
discipline  of  personal,  domestic,  and  social  duties,  —  the 
daily  work  in  field  or  shop,  market  or  house,  "  the  char- 
ities that  soothe  and  heal  and  bless." 

Nothing  great  is  ever  done  without  industry.  Sloth 
sinks  the  idle  boy  to  stupid  ignorance ;  and  vain  to  him 
are  schools,  and  books,  and  all  the  appliances  of  the 
instructor's  art.  It  is  industry  in  religion  which  makes 
■the  man  a  saint.  What  zeal  is  there  for  money;  what 
diligence  in  learning  to  be  a  lawyer,  a  fiddler,  or  a 
smith!  The  same  industry  to  be  also  religious  men, — 
what  noble  images  of  God  it  would  make  us !  ay,  what 
blessed  men !  Even  in  the  special  qualities  of  fiddler, 
lawyer,  smith,  we  should  be  more ;  for  general  manhood 
is  the  stuff  we  make  into  tradesmen  of  each  special 
craft,  and  the  gold  which  was  fine  in  the  ingot  is  fine 
also  in  the  medal  and  the  coin. 

You  have  seen  a  skilful  gardener  about  his  work. 
He  saves  the  slips  of  his  pear-trees,  prunings  from  his 
currant-bush ;  he  watches  for  the  sunny  hours  in  spring 
to  air  his  passion-flower  and  orange-tree.  How  nicely 
he  shields  his  dahlias  from  the  wind,  his  melons  from 
the  frost!  Patiently  he  hoards  cuttings  from  a  rose- 
bush, and  the  stone  of  a  peach  ;  choice  fruit  in  another's 
orchard  next  year  is  grafted  on  his  crabbed  stock,  which 


CULTURE   OF   THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     191 

in  three  years  rejoices  in  alien  flowers  and  apples  not  its 
own.  Are  we  not  gardeners,  all  of  ns,  to  fill  our  time 
with  greener  life,  with  fragrant  beauty,  and  rich,  timely 
fruit  ?  There  are  bright  cheery  morning  hours  good  for 
putting  in  the  seed ;  moments  of  sunnier  delight,  when 
some  success  not  looked  for  —  the  finding  of  a  friend, 
husband,  or  wife,  the  advent  of  a  child  —  mellows  the 
hours.  Then  nurse  the  tender  plant  of  piety ;  one  day  its 
bloom  will  adorn  your  gloomy  hour,  and  be  a  brightness 
in  many  a  winter  day  which  now  you  reck  not  of. 

There  are  days  of  sadness  when  it  rains  sorrow  on 
you,  —  when  you  mourn  the  loss  of  friends,  their  sad 
defeat  in  mortal  life,  or  worse  still,  the  failure  of  your- " 
self,  your  wanderings  from  the  way  of  life,  or  prostrate 
fall  therein.  Use,  then,  0  man,  these  hours  for  penitence, 
if  need  be,  and  vigorous  resolve.  Water  the  choicest, 
tender  plants ;  one  day  the  little  seedling  you  have 
planted  with  your  tears  shall  be  a  broad  tree,  and  under 
its  arms  you  will  screen  your  head  from  the  windy 
storm  and  the  tempest,  —  yes,  find  for  your  bones  a 
quiet  grave  at  last. 

Do  you  cominit  a  sin,  an  intentional  violation  of  the 
law  of  God,  you  may  make  even  that  help  you  in  your 
religious  growth.     He  who  never  hungered  knows  not- 
the  worth  of  bread ;  who  never  suffered,  nor  sorrowed,  ■ 
nor  went  desolate  and  alone,  knows  not  the  full  value  of 
human  sympathy  and  human  love.     I  have  sometimes  • 
thought  that  a  man  who  had  never  sinned  nor  broke 
the  integrity  of   his   consciousness,  nor,  by  wandering, 
disturbed  the  continuity  of  his  march  towards  perfec- 
tion,—  that  he  could   not  know  the  power  of  religion- 
to  fortify  the  soul.     But  there  are  no  such  men.     We 
learn  to  walk  by  stumbling  at  the  first;  and  spiritual- 
experience  is  also  bought  by  errors  of  the  soul.     Peni- 


192  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

tence  is  but  the  cry  of  the  child  hurt  in  his  fall.  Shame 
on  us  that  we  affect  the  pain  so  oft,  and  only  learn  to 
whine  an  unnatural  contrition !  Sure  I  am  that  the 
grief  of  a  soul  self-wounded,  the  sting  of  self-reproach, 
the  torment  of  remorse  for  errors  of  passion,  for  sins  of 
calculation,  may  quicken  any  man  in  his  course  to  man- 
hood, till  he  runs  and  is  not  weary.  The  mariner  learns 
wisdom  from  each  miscarriage  of  his  ship,  and  fronts 
the  seas  anew  to  triumph  over  wind  and  wave. 

Some  of  you  are  young  men  and  maidens.  You  look 
forward  to  be  husbands  and  wives,  to  be  fathers  and 
mothers,  some  day.  Some  of  you  seek  to  be  rich,  some 
honored.  Is  it  not  well  to  seek  to  have  for  yourself  a 
noble,  manly  character,  to  be  religious  men  and  women, 
with  a  liberal  development  of  mind  and  conscience,  heart 
and  soul  ?  You  will  meet  with  losses,  trials,  disappoint- 
ments in  your  business,  in  your  friends  and  families,  and 
in  yourselves ;  many  a  joy  will  also  smile  on  you.  You 
■may  use  the  sunny  sky  and  its  falling  weather  alike  to 
help  your  religious  growth.  Your  time,  young  men, 
what  life  and  manhood  you  may  make  of  that! 

Some  of  you  are  old  men,  your  heads  white  with  mani- 
fold experience,  and  life  is  writ  in  storied  hieroglyphics 
on  cheek  and  brow.  Venerable  faces !  I  hope  I  learn 
from  you.  I  hardly  dare  essay  to  teach  men  before 
whom  time  has  unrolled  his  lengthened  scroll,  men  far 
before  me  in  experience  of  life.  But  let  me  ask  you, 
if  while  you  have  been  doing  your  work,  —  have  been 
gathering  riches,  and  tasting  the  joys  of  time,  —  been 
son,  husband,  father,  friend,  —  you  have  also  great- 
ened,  deepened,  heightened  your  manly  character,  and 
gained  the  greatest  riches,— the  wealth  of  a  religious 
soul,  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  the  joys  that  cannot 
fade  away  ? 


CULTURE   OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  POWERS.     193 

For  old  or  young  there  is  no  real  and  lasting  human 
blessedness  without  this.  It  is  the  sole  sufficient  and 
assured  defence  against  the  sorrows  of  the  world,  the 
disappointments  and  the  griefs  of  life,  the  pains  of  unre- 
quited righteousness  and  hopes  that  went  astray.  It  is 
a  never-failing  fountain  of  delight. 

"  There  are  briars  besetting  every  path, 

That  call  for  patient  care; 
There  is  a  cross  in  every  lot, 

And  an  earnest  need  for  prayer; 
But  the  lowly  heart  that  trusts  iu  Thee 

Is  happy  everywhere." 


13 


194  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


OF    PIETY,   AND    THE   EELATION    THEEEOF  TO 
MANLY   LIFE. 

Thou  shall  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
icith  all  thy  mind.  —  Matt.  xxii.  37. 

There  are  two  things  requisite  for  complete  and  per- 
fect religion,  —  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  man; 
one  I  will  call  piety,  the  other  goodness.  In  their  nat- 
ural development  they  are  not  so  sharply  separated  as 
this  language  would  seem  to  imply  ;  for  piety  and  good- 
ness run  into  one  another,  so  that  you  cannot  tell  where 
one  begins  and  the  other  ends.  But  I  will  distinguish 
the  two  by  their  centre,  where  they  are  most  unlilce ;  not 
by  their  circumference,  where  they  meet  and  mingle. 

The  part  of  man  which  is  not  body  I  will  call  the 
spirit,  under  that  term  including  all  the  faculties  not 
sensual.  Let  me,  for  convenience'  sake,  distribute  these 
faculties  of  the  human  spirit  into  four  classes  :  the  in- 
tellectual,—  including  the  aesthetic,  —  moral,  affectional, 
and  religious.  Let  mind  be  the  name  of  the  intellectual 
faculty,  —  including  the  threefold  mental  powers,  reason, , 
imagination,  and  understanding ;  conscience  shall  be  the 
short  name  for  the  moral,  heart  for  the  affectional,  and 
soul  for  the  religious  faculties. 

I  shall  take  it  for  granted  that  the  great  work  of  man- 
kind on  earth  is  to  live  a  manly  life,  to  use,  discipline, 
develop,  and  enjoy  every  limb  of  the  body,  every  faculty 
of  the  spirit,  each  in  its  just  proportion,  all  in  their 
proper  place,  duly  co-ordinating  what  is  merely  personal 


RELATION  OF  PIETY   TO  MANLY  LIFE.      195 

and  for  the  present  time,  with  what  is  universal  and  for 
ever.  This  being  so,  what  place  ought  piety,  the  love  of 
God,  to  hold  in  a  manly  life  ? 

It  seems  to  me  that  piety  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  manly 
excellence.  It  represents  the  universal  action  of  man 
according  to  his  nature.  This  universal  action,  the  bent 
of  the  whole  man  in  his  normal  direction,  is  the  logical 
condition  of  any  special  action  of  man  in  a  right  direc- 
tion, of  any  particular  bent  that  way.  If  I  have  a  uni- 
versal idea  of  universal  causality  in  my  mind,  I  can  then 
understand  a  special  cause  ;  but  without  that  universal 
idea  of  causality  in  my  mind,  patent  or  latent,  I  could 
not  understand  any  particular  cause  whatever.  My  eye 
might  see  the  fact  of  a  man  cutting  down  a  tree,  but  my 
mind  would  comprehend  only  the  conjunction  in  time 
and  space,  not  their  connection  in  causality.  If  you 
have  not  a  universal  idea  of  beauty,  you  do  not  know 
that  this  is  a  handsome  and  that  a  homely  dress ;  you 
notice  only  the  form  and  color,  the  texture  and  the  fit, 
but  see  no  relation  to  an  ideal  loveliness.  If  you  have 
not  a  universal  idea  of  the  true,  the  just,  the  holy,  you 
do  not  comprehend  the  odds  betwixt  a  correct  stateinent 
and  a  lie,  between  the  deed  of  the  priest  and  that  of  the 
good  Samaritan,  between  the  fidelity  of  Jesus  and  the 
falseness  of  Iscariot.  This  rule  runs  through  all  human 
nature.  The  universal  is  the  logical  condition  of  the 
generic,  the  special,  and  the  particular.  So  the  love  of 
God,  the  universal  object  of  the  human  spirit,  is  the 
logical  condition  of  all  manly  life. 

This  is  clear,  if  you  look  at  man  acting  in  each  of  the 
four  modes  just  spoken  of ,  — intellectual,  moral,  affec- 
tional,  and  religious. 

The  mind  contemplates  God  as  manifested  in  truth ; 
for  truth  —  in  the  wide  meaning  of  the  word  includiug 


196  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

also  a  comprehension  of  the  useful  and  the  beautiful  —  is 
the  universal  category  of  intellectual  cognition.  To  love 
God  with  the  mind  is  to  love  him  as  manifesting  him- 
self in  the  truth,  or  to  the  mind ;  it  is  to  love  truth,  not 
for  its  uses,  but  for  itself,  because  it  is  true,  absolutely 
beautiful  and  lovely  to  the  mind.  In  finite  things  we 
read  the  infinite  truth,  the  absolute  object  of  the  mind. 

Love  of  truth  is  a  great  intellectual  excellence  ;  but  it 
is  plain  you  must  have  the  universal  love  of  universal 
truth  before  you  can  have  any  special  love  for  any  par- 
ticular truth  whatsoever,  for  in  all  intellectual  affairs 
the  universal  is  the  logical  condition  of  the  special. 

Love  of  truth  in  general  is  the  intellectual  part  of 
piety.  We  see  at  once  that  this  lies  at  the  basis  of  all 
intellectual  excellence,  —  at  love  of  truth  in  art,  in  sci- 
ence, in  law,  in  common  life.  Without  it  you  may  love 
the  convenience  of  truth  in  its  various  forms,  useful  or 
beautiful ;  but  that  is  quite  different  from  loving  truth 
itself.  You  often  find  men  who  love  the  uses  of  truth, 
but  not  truth ;  they  wish  to  have  truth  on  their  side,  but 
not  to  be  on  the  side  of  truth.  When  it  does  not  serve 
their  special  and  selfish  turn,  they  are  offended,  and 
Peter  breaks  out  with  his  "  I  know  not  the  man,"  and 
"the  wisest,  brightest"  proves  also  the  "meanest  of 
mankind." 

The  conscience  contemplates  God  as  manifested  in 
right,  in  justice,  for  right  or  justice  is  the  universal 
category  of  moral  cognition.  To  love  God  with  the  con- 
science is  to  love  him  as  manifested  in  right  and  justice,  — 
is  to  love  right  or  justice,  not  for  its  convenience,  its 
specific  uses,  but  for  itself,  because  it  is  absolutely  beau- 
tiful and  lovely  to  the  conscience.  In  changeable  things 
we  read  the  unchanging  and  eternal  right,  which  is  the 
absolute  object  of  conscience. 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      197 

To  love  right  is  a  great  moral  excellence ;  but  it  is 
plain  you  must  have  a  universal  love  of  universal  right 
before  you  can  have  any  special  love  of  a  particular 
right,  for,  in  all  moral  affairs,  the  universal  is  the  logi- 
cal condition  of  the  special. 

The  love  of  right  is  the  moral  part  of  piety.  This  lies 
at  the  basis  of  all  moral  excellence  whatever.  Without 
this  you  may  love  right  for  its  uses ;  but  if  only  so,  it  is 
not  right  you  love,  but  only  the  convenience  it  may  bring 
to  you  in  your  selfish  schemes.  None  was  so  ready  to 
draw  the  sword  for  Jesus,  or  look  after  the  money  spent 
upon  him,  as  the  disciple  who  straightway  denied  and 
betrayed  him.  Many  wish  right  on  their  side,  w^ho  take 
small  heed  to  be  on  the  side  of  right.  You  shall  find 
men  enough  who  seem  to  love  right  in  general,  because 
they  clamor  for  a  specific,  particular  right ;  but  ere  long 
it  becomes  plain  they  only  love  some  limited  or  even 
personal  convenience  they  hope  therefrom.  The  people 
of  the  United  States  claim  to  love  the  unalienable  right 
of  man  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
But  the  long-continued  cry  of  three  million  slaves,  groan- 
ing under  the  American  yoke,  shows  beyond  question  or 
cavil  that  it  is  not  the  universal  and  unalienable  right 
which  they  love,  but  only  the  selfish  advantage  it  affords 
them.  If  you  love  the  right  as  right,  for  itself,  because 
it  is  absolutely  just  and  beautiful  to  your  conscience, 
then  you  will  no  more  deprive  another  of  it  than  submit 
yourself  to  be  deprived  thereof.  Even  the  robber  will 
fight  for  his  own.  The  man  who  knows  no  better  rests 
in  the  selfish  love  of  the  private  use  of  a  special  right. 

The  heart  contemplates  God  as  manifested  in  love,  for 
love  is  the  universal  category  of  affectional  cognition. 
To  love  God  with  the  heart,  is  to  love  him  as  manifested 
in  love ;  it  is  to  love  love,  not  for  its  convenience,  but 


198  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

for  itself,  because  it  is  absolutely  beautiful  and  lovely  to 
the  heart. 

Here  I  need  not  reiterate  what  has  already  been  twice 
said,  of  mind  and  of  conscience. 

Love  of  God  as  love,  then,  is  the  affectional  part  of  piety, 
and  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  affectional  excellence.  The 
mind  and  the  conscience  are  content  with  ideas,  with  the 
true  and  tlie  right,  while  the  heart  demands  not  ideas, 
but  beings,  persons,  —  and  loves  them.  It  is  ono  thing 
to  desire  the  love  of  a  person  for  your  own  use  and  con- 
venience, and  quite  different  to  have  your  personal  de- 
light in  him,  and  desire  him  to  have  his  personal  delight 
in  you.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  as  persons  are 
concrete  and  finite,  man  nev^er  finds  the  complete  satis- 
faction of  his  affectional  nature  in  them,  for  no  person 
is  absolutely  lovely,  none  the  absolute  object  of  the 
affections.  But  as  the  mind  and  conscience  use  the 
finite  things  to  help  learn  infinite  truth  and  infinite 
right,  and  ultimately  rest  in  that  as  their  absolute  ob- 
ject, so  our  heart  uses  the  finite  persons  whom  we 
reciprocally  love  as  golden  letters  in  tlie  book  of  life, 
whereby  we  learn  the  absolutely  lovely,  the  infinite 
object  of  the  heart.  As  the  philosopher  has  the  stars  of 
heaven,  each  lovely  in  itself,  whereby  to  learn  the  abso- 
lute truth  of  science, —  as  the  moralist  has  the  events 
of  "human  history,  each  of  great  moment  to  mankind, 
whereby  to  learn  the  absolute  right  of  ethics,  —  so  the 
philanthropist  has  the  special  persons  of  his  acquaint- 
ance, each  one  a  joy  to  him,  as  the  rounds  of  his  Jacob's 
ladder  whereby  he  goes  journeying  up  to  the  absolutely 
lovely,  the  infinite  object  of  the  affections. 

The  soul  contemplates  God  as  a  being  who  unites  all 
these  various  modes  of  action,  as  manifested  in  truth, 
in  right,  and  in  love.     It  apprehends  him,  not  merely 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      199 

as  absolute  truth,  absolute  right,  and  absolute  love  alone, 
but  as  all  these  unified  into  one  complete  and  perfect 
Being,  the  infinite  God.  He  is  the  absolute  object  of 
the  soul,  and  corresponds  thereto,  as  truth  to  the  mind, 
as  justice  to  the  conscience,  as  love  to  the  heart.  He 
is  to  the  soul  absolutely  true,  just,  and  lovely,  the  alto- 
gether beautiful.  To  him  the  soul  turns  instinctively 
at  first ;  then  also,  at  length,  with  conscious  and  dis- 
tinctive will. 

The  love  of  God  in  this  fourfold  way  is  the  totality 
of  piety,  which  comes  from  the  normal  use  of  all  the 
faculties  named  before.  Hence  it  appears  that  piety  of 
this  character  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  manly  excellence 
whatever,  and  is  necessary  to  a  complete  and  well-pro- 
portioned development  of  the  faculties  themselves. 

There  may  be  an  unconscious  piety :  the  man  does 
not  know  that  he  loves  universal  truth,  justice,  love, — 
loves  God.  He  only  thinks  of  the  special  truth,  justice, 
and  love  which  he  prizes.  He  does  not  reflect  upon  it ; 
does  not  aim  to  love  God  in  this  way,  yet  does  it  never- 
theless. Many  a  philosopher  has  seemed  without  relio-- 
ion  even  to  a  careful  observer;  sometimes  has  passed 
for  an  atheist.  Some  of  them  have  to  themselves  seemed 
without  any  religion,  and  have  denied  that  there  was 
any  God.  But  all  the  while  their  nature  was  truer  than 
their  will ;  their  instincts  kept  their  personal  wholeness 
better  than  they  were  aware.  These  men  loved  absolute 
truth,  not  for  its  uses,  but  for  itself;  they  laid  down 
their  lives  for  it,  rather  than  violate  the  integrity  of  their 
intellect.  They  had  the  intellectual  love  of  God,  though 
they  knew  it  not ;  though  they  denied  it.  No  man  ever 
has  a  complete  and  perfect  intellectual  consciousness  of 
all  his  active  nature ;  something  instinctive  germinates 
in  us,  and  grows  underground,  as  it  were,  before  it  bursts 


200  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  sod  and  shoots  into  the  light  of  self-consciousness. 
Sheathed  in  unconsciousness  lies  the  bud,  ere  long  to 
open  a  bright,  consummate  flower.  These  philosophers, 
with  a  real  love  of  truth,  and  yet  a  scorn  of  the  name 
of  God,  understand  many  things,  perhaps,  not  known 
to  common  men,  but  this  portion  of  their  being  has  yet 
escaped  their  eye ;  they  have  not  made  an  exact  and 
exhaustive  inventory  of  the  facts  of  their  own  nature. 
Such  men  have  unconsciously  much  of  the  intellectual 
part  of  piety. 

Other  men  have  loved  justice,  not  for  the  personal 
convenience  it  offered  to  them,  but  for  its  own  sake, 
because  it  married  itself  to  their  conscience,  —  have 
loved  it  with  a  disinterested,  even  a  self-denying  love,  — 
who  yet  scorned  religion,  denied  all  consciousness  of 
God,  denied  his  providence,  perhaps  his  existence,  and 
would  have  resolved  God  into  matter,  and  no  more. 
Yet  all  the  while  in  these  men,  dim  and  unconscious, 
there  lay  the  religious  element ;  neglected,  unknown,  it 
gave  the  man  the  very  love  of  special  justice  which  made 
him  strong.  He  knew  the  absolutely  just,  but  did  not 
know  it  as  God. 

I  have  known  philanthropists  who  undervalued  piety ; 
they  liked  it  not, — they  said  it  was  moonlight,  not  broad 
day  ;  it  gave  flashes  of  lightning,  all  of  which  would  not 
make  light.  They  professed  no  love  of  God,  no  knowl- 
edge thereof,  while  they  had  the  strongest  love  of  love ; 
loved  persons,  not  with  a  selfish,  but  self-denying  affec- 
tion, ready  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  the  completeness 
of  another  man's  delight.  Yet  underneath  this  philan- 
thropy there  lay  the  absolute  and  disinterested  love  of 
other  men.  They  knew  only  the  special  form,  not  the 
universal  substance  thereof,  —  the  particular  love  of 
Thomas  or  of  Jane,  not  the  universal  love  of  the  Infinite. 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      201 

They  had  the  affectional  form  of  piety,  though  they  knew 
it  not. 

I  have  known  a  man  full  of  admiration  and  of  love 
for  the  universe,  yet  lacking  consciousness  of  its  Author. 
He  loved  the  truth  and  beauty  of  the  world,  reverenced 
the  justice  of  the  universe,  and  was  himself  delighted 
at  the  love  he  saw  pervading  all  and  blessing  all ;  yet  he 
recognized  no  God,  saw  only  a  cosmic  force,  which  was 
a  power  of  truth  and  beauty  to  his  mind,  a  power  of 
justice  to  his  conscience,  and  a  power  of  love  to  his 
heart.  He  had  not  a  philosophic  consciousness  of  the 
deeper,  nobler  action  which  went  on  within  him,  building 
greater  than  he  knew.  But  in  him  also  there  were  the 
several  parts  of  piety,  only  not  joined  into  one  total  and 
integral  act,  and  not  distinctly  known. 

This  unconsciousness  of  piety  is  natural  with  a  child. 
In  early  life  it  is  unavoidable  ;  only  now  and  then  some 
rare  and  precious  boy  or  girl  opens  from  out  its  husk  of 
unconsciousness  his  childish  bud  of  faith,  and  blossoms 
right  early  with  the  consciousness  of  God,  a  "  strong  and 
flame-like  flower."  This  instinctiveness  of  piety  is  the 
beauty  of  childhood,  the  morning-red  widely  and  gor- 
geously diffused  before  the  rising  of  the  sun.  But  as  a 
man  becomes  mature,  adds  reflection  to  instinct,  trans- 
mutes sentiments  into  ideas,  he  should  also  become  con- 
scious of  his  religious  action,  of  his  love  of  God  in  this 
fourfold  form;  when  he  loves  truth,  justice,  love,  he 
should  know  that  it  is  God  he  loves  underneath  these 
special  forms,  and  should  unite  them  all  into  one  great 
act  of  total  piety.  As  the  state  of  self-consciousness  is 
a  more  advanced  state  than  unconsciousness ;  as  the 
reflective  reason  of  the  man  is  above  the  unreflective 
instinct  of  the  child;  so  the  man's  conscious  piety  be- 
longs to  a  higher  stage  of  development,  and  is  above 


202  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  mere  instinctive  and  unconscious  piety  of  the  girl. 
Accordingly,  the  philosopher  who  loved  truth  for  its  own 
sake,  and  with  his  mind  denied  in  words  the  God  of 
truth,  was  less  a  philosopher  for  not  knowing  that  he 
loved  God.  He  had  less  intellectual  power  because  he 
was  in  an  abnormal  state  of  intellectual  religious  growth. 
The  man  who  loved  justice  for  its  own  sake,  and  would 
not  for  an  empire  do  a  conscious  wrong,  wliom  the  popu- 
lar hell  could  not  scare,  nor  the  popular  heaven  allure 
from  riglit,  —  he  had  less  power  of  justice  for  not  know- 
ing that  in  loving  right  he  loved  the  God  of  right.  That 
philanthropist,  who  has  such  love  of  love  tliat  he  would 
lay  down  his  life  for  men,  is  less  a  philanthropist 
and  has  less  affectional  power,  because  he  knows  not 
that  in  his  brave  benevolence  he  loves  the  God  of  love. 
The  man  full  of  profound  love  of  the  universe,  of  rev- 
erence for  its  order,  its  beauty,  its  justice,  and  the  love 
which  fills  the  lily's  cup  with  fragrant  loveliness,  who 
wonders  at  the  mighty  cosmic  force  he  sees  in  these 
fractions  of  power,  —  he  is  less  a  man  because  he  does 
not  know  it  is  God's  world  that  he  admires,  reverences, 
and  worships ;  ay,  far  less  a  man  because  he  does  not 
know  he  loves  and  worships  God.  When  he  becomes 
conscious  of  his  own  spiritual  action,  conscious  of  God, 
of  loving  God  with  mind  and  conscience,  heart  and  soul, 
his  special  love  will  increase,  he  will  see  the  defects 
there  are  in  his  piety ;  if  it  be  disproportionate,  through 
redundance  here  or  failure  there,  he  can  correct  the 
deformity  and  make  his  entire  inner  life  harmonious, 
a  well-proportioned  whole.  Then  he  feels  that  he  goes 
in  and  out,  continually,  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  forces 
of  the  universe,  which  are  only  the  forces  of  God ;  that 
in  his  studies,  when  he  attains  a  truth,  he  confronts  the 
thought  of  God ;  when  he  learns  the  right,  he  learns  the 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      203 

will  of  God  laid  down  as  a  rule  of  conduct  for  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  when  he  feels  disinterested  love,  he  knows 
that  he  partakes  tlie  feeling  of  the  infinite  God.  Then, 
when  he  reverences  the  miglity  cosmic  force,  it  is  not  a 
blind  fate  in  an  atheistic  or  a  pantheistic  world,  it  is  the 
infinite  God  that  he  confronts,  and  feels,  and  knows. 
He  is  then  mindful  of  the  mind  of  God,  conscious  of 
God's  conscience,  sensible  of  God's  sentiment,  and  his 
own  existence  is  in  the  Infinite  Being  of  God.  Thus  he 
joins  into  a  whole  integral  state  of  piety  the  various  parts 
developed  by  the  several  faculties;  there  is  a  new  growth 
of  each,  a  new  development  of  all. 

If  these  things  be  so,  then  it  is  plain  what  relation 
piety  sustains  to  manly  life ;  it  is  the  basis  of  all  the 
higher  excellence  of  man,  and  when  the  man  is  mature, 
what  was  instinctive  at  first  becomes  a  state  of  conscious 
love  of  God. 

Now,  when  this  universal  fourfold  force  is  once  de- 
veloped and  brought  to  consciousness,  and  the  man  has 
achieved  something  in  this  way,  his  piety  may  be  left  to 
take  its  natural  form  of  expression,  or  it  may  be  con- 
strained to  take  a  form  not  natural.  Mankind  has 
made  many  experiments  upon  piety ;  books  of  history 
are  full  of  them.  Most  of  these, -as  of  all  the  experi- 
ments of  man  in  progress,  are  failures.  We  aim  many 
times  before  we  hit  the  mark.  The  history  of  religion 
is  not  exceptional  or  peculiar  in  this  respect.  See  how 
widely  men  experiment  in  agriculture,  navigation,  gov- 
ernment, before  they  learn  the  one  right  way.  The 
history  of  science  is  the  history  of  mistakes.  The  his- 
tory of  religion  and  the  history  of  astronomy  are 
equally  marked  by  error.  It  is  not  surprising  that  mis- 
takes have  been  made  in  respect  to  the  forms  of  piety 
after  it  is  procured. 


204  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

For  there  are  various  helps  which  are  needful,  and 
perhaps  indispensable,  in  childhood,  to  the  development 
of  the  love  of  God,  but  which  are  not  needed  after  the 
religious  character  is  somewhat  mature.  Then  the  man 
needs  not  those  former  outward  helps ;  he  has  other  aids 
suited  to  his  greater  strength.  This  is  true  of  the  indi- 
vidual, repeating  no  more  the  hymns  of  his  nursery, — 
true  also  of  mankind,  that  outgrows  the  sacrifices  and 
the  mythologies  of  the  childhood  of  the  world.  Yet  it  is 
easy  for  human  indolence  to  linger  near  these  helps,  and 
refuse  to  pass  further  on.  So  the  unadventurous  nomad 
in  the  Tartarian  wild  keeps  his  flock  in  the  same  close- 
cropped  circle  where  they  first  learned  to  browse,  while 
the  progressive  man  roves  ever  forth  "to  fresh  fields  and 
pastures  new."  See  how  parents  help  to  develop  the 
body  of  the  child.  The  little  boy  is  put  into  a  standing- 
stool,  or  baby-jumper,  till  he  learns  to  walk.  By  and  by 
he  has  his  hoop,  his  top,  his  ball ;  each  in  turn  is  laid 
aside.  He  has  helps  to  develop  his  mind  not  less, — 
little  puzzles,  tempting  him  to  contrive,  prints  set  off 
with  staring  colors ;  he  has  his  alphabet  of  wooden 
letters,  in  due  time  his  primer,  his  nursery  rhymes,  and 
books  full  of  most  wonderful  impossibilities.  He  has 
his  early  reader,  his  first  lessons  in  arithmetic,  and  so 
goes  on  with  new  helps  proportionate  to  his  strength. 
It  is  a  long  slope  from  counting  the  fingers  up  to  calcu- 
lating the  orbit  of  a  planet  not  yet  seen.  But  the  fin- 
gers and  the  solar  system  are  alike  helps  to  mathematic 
thought.  When  the  boy  is  grown  up  to  man's  estate, 
his  body  vigorous  and  mature,  he  tries  his  strength  in 
the  natural  work  of  society,  is  a  merchant,  a  sailor,  a 
mechanic,  a  farmer;  he  hews  stones,  or  lifts  up  an 
axe  upon  the  thick  timber.  For  a  long  time  his  body 
grows  stronger  by  his  work,  and  he  gets  more  skill. 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      205 

His  body  pays  for  itself,  and  refunds  to  mankind  the 
cost  of  its  training-  up.  When  his  mind  is  mature,  he 
applies  that  also  to  the  various  works  of  society,  —  to 
transact  private  business,  or  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
public ;  for  a  long  time  his  mind  grows  stronger,  gain- 
ing new  knowledge  and  increase  of  power.  Thus  his 
mind  pays  for  its  past  culture,  and  earns  its  tuition  as 
it  goes  along. 

In  this  case  the  physical  or  mental  power  of  the  man, 
assumes  its  natural  form,  and  does  its  natural  work. 
He  has  outgrown  the  things  which  pleased  his  childhood 
and  informed  his  youth.  Nobody  thinks  it  necessary  or 
beautiful  for  the  accomplished  scholar  to  go  back  to  his 
alphabet  and  repeat  it  over,  to  return  to  his  early  arith- 
metic and  paradigms  of  grammar,  when  he  knows  them 
all ;  for  this  is  not  needful  to  keep  an  active  mind  in 
a  normal  condition,  and  perform  the  mental  work  of  a 
mature  man.  Nobody  sends  a  lumberer  from  the  woods 
back  to  his  nursery,  or  tells  him  he  cannot  keep  his 
strength  without  daily  or  weekly  sleeping  in  his  little 
cradle,  or  exercising  with  the  hoop,  or  top,  or  ball,  which 
helped  his  babyhood.  Because  these  little  trifles  sufficed 
once,  they  cannot  help  him  now.  Man,  reaching  forward, 
forgets  the  things  that  are  behind. 

Now  the  mischief  is,  that,  in  matters  of  religion,  men 
demand  that  he  who  has  a  mature  and  well-proportioned 
piety  should  always  go  back  to  the  rude  helps  of  his 
boyhood,  to  the  A  B  C  of  religion  and  the  nursery  books 
of  piety.  He  is  not  bid  to  take  his  power  of  piety  and 
apply  it  to  the  common  walks  of  life.  The  Newton  of 
piety  is  sent  back  to  the  dame-school  of  religion,  and 
told  to  keep  counting  his  fingers,  otherwise  there  is  no 
health  in  him,  and  all  piety  is  wiped  out  of  his  con- 
sciousness, and  he  hates  God,  and  God  hates  him.     He 


206  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

must  study  the  anicular  lines  on  the  school-dame's  slate, 
not  the  diagrams  of  God  writ  on  the  heavens  in  points 
of  fire.  We  are  told  that  what  once  thus  helped  to 
mould  a  religious  character  must  be  continually  resorted 
to,  and  become  the  permanent  form  thereof. 

This  notion  is  exceedingly  pernicious.  It  wastes  the 
practical  power  of  piety  by  directing  it  from  its  natural 
work ;  it  keeps  the  steam-engine  always  fanning  and 
blowing  itself,  perpetually  firing  itself  up,  while  it  turns 
no  wheels  but  its  own,  and  does  no  work  but  feed  and 
fire  itself.  This  constant  firing  up  of  one's  self  is  looked 
on  as  the  natural  work  and  only  form  of  piety.  Ask 
any  popular  minister,  in  one  of  the  predominant  sects, 
for  the  man  most  marked  for  piety,  and  he  will  not  show 
you  the  men  with  the  power  of  business  who  do  the  work 
of  life,  —  the  upright  mechanic,  merchant,  or  farmer ; 
not  the  men  with  the  power  of  thought,  of  justice,  or 
of  love ;  not  him  whose  whole  life  is  one  great  act  of 
fourfold  piety.  No,  he  will  show  you  some  men  who  are 
always  a-dawdling  over  their  souls,  going  back  to  the 
baby-jumpers  and  nurserj^  rhymes  of  their  early  days, 
and  everlastingly  coming  to  the  church  to  fire  themselves 
up,  calling  themselves  "miserable  offenders,"  and  saying, 
"save  us,  good  Lord."  If  a  man  thinks  himself  a  miser- 
able offender,  let  him  away  with  the  offence,  and  be  done 
with  the  complaint  at  once  and  forever.  It  is  dangerous 
to  reiterate  so  sad  a  cry. 

You  see  this  mistake,  on  a  large  scale,  in  the  zeal  with 
which  nations  or  sects  cling  to  their  religious  institutions 
long  after  they  are  obsolete.  Thus  the  Hebrew  cleaves 
to  his  ancient  ritual  and  ancient  creed,  refusing  to  share 
the  religious  science  which  mankind  has  brought  to  light 
since  Moses  and  Samuel  went  home  to  their  God.  The 
two  great  sects  of  Christendom  exhibit  the  same  thing 


RELATION  OF  PIETY   TO  MANLY  LIFE.      207 

in  their  adherence  to  ceremonies  and  opinions  which 
once  were  the  greatest  helps  and  the  highest  expression 
of  piety  to  mankind,  but  which  have  long  since  lost  all 
virtue  except  as  relics.  The  same  error  is  repeated  on 
a  small  scale  all  about  us,  men  trying  to  believe  what 
science  proves  ridiculous,  and  only  succeeding  by  the 
destruction  of  reason.  It  was  easy  to  make  the  mistake, 
but  when  made  it  need  not  be  made  perpetual. 

Then  this  causes  another  evil :  not  only  do  men  waste 
the  practical  power  of  piety,  but  they  cease  to  get  more. 
To  feed  on  baby's  food,  to  be  dandled  in  mother's  arms, 
to  play  with  boys'  playthings,  to  learn  boys'  lessons, 
and  be  amused  with  boys'  stories,  —  this  helps  the  boy, 
but  it  hinders  the  man.  Long  ago  we  got  from  these 
helps  all  that  was  in  them.  To  stay  longer  is  waste  of 
time.  Look  at  the  men  who  have  been  doing  this  for  ten 
years ;  they  are  wliere  they  were  ten  years  ago.  They 
have  done  well  if  they  have  not  fallen  back.  If  we  keep 
the  baby's  shoes  forever  on  the  child,  what  will  become 
of  the  feet  ?  What  if  you  kept  the  boy  over  his  nursery 
rhymes  forever,  or  tried  to  make  the  man  grown  believe 
that  they  contained  the  finest  poetry  in  the  world,  that 
the  giant  stories  and  the  fairy  tales  therein  were  all  true, 
what  effect  would  it  have  on  his  mind  ?  Suppose  you 
told  him  that  the  proof  of  his  manhood  consisted  in  his 
fondness  for  little  boys'  playthings,  and  the  little  story- 
books and  the  little  games  of  little  children,  and  kept 
him  securely  fastened  to  the  apron-strings  of  the  school- 
dame  ;  suppose  you  could  make  him  believe  so  !  You 
must  make  him  a  fool  first.  What  would  work  so  bad 
in  intellectual  affairs  works  quite  as  ill  in  the  matter  of 
piety.  The  story  of  the  flood  has  strangled  a  world  of 
souls.  The  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  no  longer 
heal,  but  hurt  mankind. 


208  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Then  this  method  of  procedure  disgusts  well-educated 
and  powerful  men  with  piety  itself,  and  with  all  that 
bears  the  name  of  religion.  "  Go  your  ways,"  say  they, 
"  and  cant  your  canting  as  much  as  you  like,  only  come 
not  near  us  with  your  grimace."  Many  a  man  sees  this 
misdirection  of  piety,  and  the  bigotry  which  environs  it, 
and  turns  off  from  religion  itself,  and  will  have  nothing 
to  do  with  it.  Philosophers  have  always  had  a  bad  name 
in  religious  matters  ;  many  of  them  have  turned  away  in 
disgust  from  the  folly  which  is  taught  in  its  name.  Of 
all  the  great  philosophers  of  this  day,  I  think  no  one 
takes  any  interest  in  the  popular  forms  of  religion.  Do 
we  ever  hear  religion  referred  to  in  politics  ?  It  is  men- 
tioned officially  in  proclamations  and  messages  ;  but  in 
the  parliamentary  debates  of  Europe  and  America,  in 
the  state  papers  of  the  nations,  you  find  hardly  a  trace 
of  the  name  or  the  fact.  Honest  men  and  manly  men 
are  ashamed  to  refer  to  this,  because  it  has  been  so  con- 
nected with  unmanly  dawdling  and  niggardly  turning 
back,  —  they  dislike  to  mention  the  word.  So  religion 
has  ceased  to  be  one  of  the  recognized  forces  of  the 
State.  I  do  not  remember  a  good  law  passed  in  my 
time  from  an  alleged  religious  motive.  Capital  punish- 
ment, and  the  laws  forbidding  work  or  play  on  Sunday, 
are  the  only  things  left  on  the  statute-book  for  which  a 
strictly  "  religious  motive "  is  assigned  !  The  annual 
thanksgivings  and  fast-days  are  mementos  of  the  politi- 
cal power  of  the  popular  religious  opinions  in  other 
times.  Men  of  great  influence  in  America  are  commonly 
men  of  little  apparent  respect  for  religion ;  it  seems  to 
have  no  influence  on  their  public  conduct,  and,  in  many 
cases,  none  on  their  private  character ;  the  class  most 
eminent  for  intellectual  culture  throughout  all  Christen- 
dom is  heedless  of  religion.     The  class  of  rich  men  has 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      209 

small  esteem  for  it ;  yet  in  all  the  great  towns  of  America 
the  most  reputable  churches  have  fallen  under  their  con- 
trol, witli  such  results  as  we  see.  The  life  of  the  nation 
in  its  great  flood  passes  by,  and  does  not  touch  the 
churches,  —  "the  institutions  of  religion."  Such  fatal 
errors  come  from  this  mistake. 

But  there  is  a  natural  form  of  piety.  The  natural  use 
of  the  strength  of  a  strong  man,  or  the  wisdom  of  a  wise 
one,  is  to  the  work  of  a  strong  man  or  a  wise  one.  What 
is  the  natural  work  of  piety  ?  Obviously  it  is  practical 
life,  —  the  use  of  all  the  faculties  in  their  proper  spheres, 
and  for  their  natural  function.  Love  of  God,  as  truth, 
justice,  love,  must  appear  in  a  life  marked  by  these  qual- 
ities ;  that  is  the  only  effectual  "  ordinance  of  religion." 
A  profession  of  the  man's  convictions,  joining  a  society, 
assisting  at  a  ceremony,  —  all  these  are  of  the  same 
value  in  science  as  in  religion  ;  as  good  forms  of  chemis- 
try as  of  piety.  The  natural  form  of  piety  is  goodness,  mo- 
rality, living  a  true,  just,  affectionate,  self-faithful  life,  from 
the  motive  of  a  pious  man.  Real  piety,  love  of  God,  if 
left  to  itself,  assumes  the  form  of  real  morality,  loyal  obe- 
dience to  God's  law.  Thus  the  power  of  religion  does 
the  work  of  religion,  and  is  not  merely  to  feed  itself. 

There  are  various  degrees  of  piety,  the  quality  ever  the 
same,  the  quantity  variable,  and  of  course  various  de- 
grees of  goodness  as  the  result  thereof.  Where  there  is 
but  little  piety  the  work  of  goodness  is  done  as  a  duty, 
under  coercion  as  it  were,  with  only  the  voluntary,  not 
the  spontaneous  will ;  it  is  not  done  from  a  love  of  the 
duty,  only  in  obedience  to  a  law  of  God  felt  within  the 
conscience  or  the  soul,  a  law  which  bids  the  deed.  The 
man's  desires  and  duty  are  in  opposition,  not  conjunc- 
tion ;  but  duty  rules.  That  is  the  goodness  of  a  boy  in 
religion,  the  common  goodness  of  the  world. 

14 


210  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

At  length  the  rising  man  shoots  above  this  rudimen- 
tary state,  has  an  increase  of  love  of  God,  and  therefore 
of  love  of  man  ;  his  goodness  is  spontaneous,  not  merelj'- 
enforced  by  volition.  He  does  the  good  thing  which 
comes  in  his  way,  and  because  it  comes  in  his  way ;  is 
true  to  his  mind,  his  conscience,  heart,  and  soul,  and 
feels  small  temptation  to  do  to  others  what  he  would  not 
receive  from  them ;  he  will  deny  himself  for  the  sake  of 
his  brother  near  at  hand.  His  desire  attracts  in  the 
line  of  his  duty,  both  in  conjunction  now.  Not  in  vain 
does  the  poor,  the  oppressed,  the  hunted  fugitive  look 
up  td  him.  This  is  the  goodness  of  men  well  grown  in 
piety.  You  find  such  men  in  all  Christian  sects,  Pro- 
testant and  Catholic ;  in  all  the  great  religious  parties 
of  the  civilized  world,  among  Buddhists,  Mahometans, 
and  Jews.  They  are  kind  fathers,  generous  citizens, 
unimpeachable  in  their  business,  beautiful  in  their  daily 
lives.  You  see  the  man's  piety  in  his  work,  and  in  his 
play.  It  appears  in  all  the  forms  of  his  activity,  indi- 
vidual, domestic,  social,  ecclesiastic,  or  political. 

But  the  man  goes  on  in  his  growth  of  piety,  loving  truth, 
justice,  love,  loving  God  the  more.  What  is  piety  within 
must  be  morality  without.  The  quality  and  quantity  of 
the  outward  must  increase  as  the  quality  and  quantity 
of  the  inward.  So  his  eminent  piety  must  become  emi- 
nent morality,  which  is  philanthropy.  He  loves  not  only 
his  kindred  and  his  country,  but  all  mankind  ;  not  only 
the  good,  but  also  the  evil.  He  has  more  goodness  than 
the  channels  of  his  "daily  life  will  hold.  So  it  runs  over 
the  banks,  to  water  and  to  feed  a  thousand  thirsty  plants. 
Not  content  with  the  duty  that  lies  along  his  track,  he 
goes  out  to  seek  it ;  not  only  willing,  he  has  a  salient 
longing  to  do  good,  to  spread  his  truth,  his  justice,  his 
love,  his  piety,  over  all  the  world.     His  daily  life  is  a 


RELATION   OF  PIETY   TO  MANLY  LIFE.       211 

profession  of  his  conscious  piety  to  God,  published  in 
perpetual  good-will  to  men. 

This  is  the  natural  form  of  piety ;  one  which  it  as- 
sumes if  left  to  itself.  Not  more  naturally  does  the 
beaver  build,  or  the  blackbird  sing  her  own  wild  gush- 
ing melody,  than  the  man  of  real  piety  lives  it  in  this 
beautiful  outward  life.  So  from  the  perennial  spring 
wells  forth  the  stream  to  quicken  the  meadow  with  new 
access  of  green,  and  perfect  beauty  bursting  into  bloom. 

Thus  piety  does  the  work  it  was  meant  to  do  ;  the 
man  does  not  sigh  and  weep,  and  make  grimaces,  for- 
ever in  a  fuss  about  his  soul ;  he  lives  right  on.  Is  his 
life  marked  with  errors,  sins,  —  he  ploughs  over  the  bar- 
ren spot  with  his  remorse,  sows  with  new  seed,  and  the 
old  desert  blossoms  like  a  rose.  He  is  free  in  his  spir- 
itual life,  not  confined  to  set  forms  of  thought,  of  action, 
or  of  feeling.  He  accepts  what  his  mind  regards  as 
true,  what  his  conscience  decides  is  right,  what  his 
heart  deems  lovely,  and  what  is  holy  to  his  soul ;  all 
else  he  puts  far  from  him.  Though  the  ancient  and  the 
honorable  of  the  earth  bid  him  bow  down  to  them,  his 
stubborn  knees  bend  only  at  the  bidding  of  his  manly 
soul.  His  piety  is  his  freedom  before  God,  not  his  bond- 
age unto  men.  The  toys  and  child's  stories  of  religion 
are  to  him  toys  and  child's  stories,  but  no  more.  No 
baby-shoes  deform  his  manly  feet. 

This  piety,  thus  left  to  obey  its  natural  law,  keeps  in 
sound  health,  and  grows  continually  more  and  more. 
Doing  his  task,  the  man  makes  no  more  ado  about  his 
soul  than  about  his  sense.  Yet  it  grows  like  the  oak- 
tree.  He  gets  continually  more  love  of  truth  and  right 
and  justice,  more  love  of  God,  and  so  more  love  of  man. 
Every  faculty  becomes  continually  more.  His  mind  acts 
after  the  universal  law  of  the  intellect,  his  conscience 


212  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

according  to  the  universal  moral  law,  his  affections  and 
his  soul  after  the  universal  law  thereof,  and  so  he  is 
strong  with  the  strength  of  God,  —  in  this  fourfold  way 
communicating  with  him.  With  this  strengthening  of 
the  moral  faculties  there  comes  a  tranquillity,  a  calm- 
ness and  repose  which  nothing  else  can  give,  and  also  a 
beauty  of  character  which  you  vainly  seek  elsewhere. 
When  a  man  has  the  intellectual,  the  moral,  the  affec- 
tional  part  of  piety,  when  he  unites  them  all  with  con- 
scious love  of  God,  and  puts  that  manifold  piety  into 
morality,  his  eminent  piety  into  philanthropy,  he  attains 
the  highest  form  of  loveliness  which  belongs  to  mortal 
man.  His  is  the  palmy  loftiness  of  man,—  such  strength, 
such  calmness,  and  such  transcendent  loveliness  of 
soul. 

I  know  some  men  mock  at  the  name  of  piety  ;  I  do 
not  wonder  at  their  scoff,  for  it  has  been  made  to  stand 
as  the  symbol  of  littleness,  meanness,  envy,  bigotry,  and 
hypocritical  superstition ;  for  qualities  I  hate  to  name. 
Of  what  is  popularly  called  piety  there  is  no  lack  ;  it  is 
abundant  everywliere,  common  as  weeds  in  the  ditch, 
and  clogs  the  wheels  of  mankind  in  every  quarter  of  the 
world.  Yet  real  piety,  in  manly  quantity  and  in  a  manly 
form,  is  an  uncommon  thing.  It  is  marvellous  what 
other  wants  the  want  of  tliis  brings  in ;  look  over  the 
long  list  of  brilliant  names  that  glitter  in  English  his- 
tory for  the  past  three  hundred  years ;  study  their  aims, 
their  outward  and  their  inner  life ;  explore  the  causes  of 
their  manifold  defeat,  and  you  will  sec  the  primal  curse 
of  all  these  men  was  lack  of  piety.  They  did  not  love 
truth,  justice,  or  love ;  they  did  not  love  God  with  all 
their  mind  and  conscience,  heart  and  soul.  Hence  came 
the  failure  of  many  a  mighty-minded  man.  Look  at  the 
brilliant  array  of  distinguished  talent  in  France  for  the 


RELATION  OF  PIETY   TO  MANLY  LIFE.       213 

last  five  generations;  wliat  intellectual  gifts,  what  un- 
derstanding, what  imagination,  what  reason  !  —  but  with 
it  all,  what  corruption,  what  waste  of  faculty,  what  lack 
of  strong  and  calm  and  holy  life,  in  these  great  famous 
men !  Their  literature  seems  marvellously  like  the 
thin,  cold  dazzle  of  northern  lights  upon  the  wintry 
ice.  In  our  own  country  it  is  still  the  same  ;  the  high 
intellectual  gift  or  culture  is  ashamed  of  religion,  and 
flouts  at  God  ;  and  hence  the  faults  we  see. 

But  real  piety  is  what  we  need  ;  we  need  much  of  it, 
—  need  it  in  the  natural  form  thereof.  Ours  is  an  age 
of  great  activity.  The  peaceful  hand  was  never  so  busy 
as  to-day  ;  the  productive  head  never  created  so  fast  be- 
fore. Sep  how  the  forces  of  nature  yield  themselves  up 
to  man :  the  riv^er  stops  for  him,  content  to  be  his  ser- 
vant, and  weave  and  spin ;  the  ocean  is  his  vassal,  his 
toilsome  bondsman  ;  the  lightning  stoops  out  of  heaven, 
and  bears  thoughtful  burdens  on  its  electric  track  from 
town  to  town.  All  this  comes  from  the  rapid  activity 
of  the  lower  intellect  of  man.  Is  there  a  conscious 
piety  to  correspond  with  this,  —  a  conscious  love  of 
truth  and  right  and  love,  —  a  love  of  God?  Ask  the 
State,  ask  the  church,  ask  society,  and  ask  our  homes. 

Tlie  age  requires  a  piety  most  eminent.  What  was 
religion  enough  for  the  time  of  the  Patriarchs,  or  the 
Prophets,  or  the  Apostles,  or  the  Reformers,  or  the  Pur- 
itans, is  not  enough  for  the  heightened  consciousness  of 
mankind  to-day.  When  the  world  thinks  in  lightning, 
it  is  not  proportionate  to  pray  in  lead.  The  old  theolo- 
gies, the  philosophies  of  religion  of  ancient  times,  will 
not  suffice  us  now.  We  want  a  religion  of  the  intellect, 
of  the  conscience,  of  the  affections,  of  the  soul,  —  the 
natural  religion  of  all  the  faculties  of  man.  The  form 
also  must  be  natural  and  new. 


214  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

We  want  this  natural  piety  in  the  form  of  normal 
human  life, — morality,  philanthropy.  Piety  is  not  to 
forsake,  but  possess  the  world  ;  not  to  become  incarnate 
in  a  nun  and  a  monk,  but  in  women  and  in  men.  Here 
are  the  duties  of  life  to  be  done.  You  are  to  do  them, 
do  them  religiously,  consciously  obedient  to  the  law  of 
God,  not  atheistically,  loving  only  your  selfish  gain. 
Here  are  the  sins  of  trade  to  be  corrected.  You  are  to 
show  that  a  good  merchant,  mechanic,  farmer,  doctor, 
lawyer,  is  a  real  saint,  a  saint  at  work.  Here  are  the 
errors  of  philosophy,  theology,  politics,  to  be  made  way 
with.  It  is  the  function  of  piety  to  abolish  these  and 
supply  their  place  with  new  truths  all  radiant  with  God. 
Here  are  tlie  great  evils  of  Church  and  State,  of  social 
and  domestic  life,  wrongs  to  be  righted,  evils  to  be  out- 
grown :  it  is  the  business  of  piety  to  mend  all  this. 
Ours  is  no  age  when  religion  can  forsake  the  broad  way 
of  life.  In  the  public  street  must  she  journey  on,  open 
her  shop  in  the  crowded  square,  and  teach  men  by 
deeds,  her  life  more  eloquent  than  any  lips.  Hers  is 
not  now  the  voice  that  is  to  cry  in  the  wilderness,  but 
in  the  public  haunts  of  men  must  she  call  them  to  make 
straight  their  ways. 

We  must  possess  all  parts  of  this  piety,  —  the  intel- 
lectual, moral,  affectional,  —  yea,  total  piety.  This  is 
not  an  age  when  men  in  religion's  name  can  safely 
sneer  at  philosophy,  call  reason  "  carnal,"  make  mouths 
at  immutable  justice,  and  blast  with  their  damnation  the 
faces  of  mankind.  Priests  have  had  their  day,  and  in 
dull  corners  still  aim  to  protract  their  favorite  and  most 
ancient  night ;  but  the  sun  has  risen  with  healing  in  his 
wings.  Piety  without  goodness,  without  justice,  without 
truth  or  love,  is  seen  to  be  the  pretence  of  the  hypocrite. 
Can  philosophy  satisfy  us  without  religion  ?     Even  the 


RELATION  OF  PIETY  TO  MANLY  LIFE.      215 

Jiead  feels  a  coldness  from  the  want  of  piety.  The 
greatest  intellect  is  ruled  by  the  same  integral  laws  with 
the  least,  and  needs  this  fourfold  love  of  God ;  and  the 
great  intellects  that  scorn  religion  are  largest  sufferers 
from  their  scorn. 

Any  man  may  attain  this  piety ;  it  lies  level  to  all. 
Yet  it  is  not  to  be  won  without  difficulty,  manly  effort, 
self-denial  of  the  low  for  the  sake  of  the  highest  in  us. 
Of  you,  young  man,  young  maid,  it  will  demand  both 
prayer  and  toil.  Not  without  great  efforts  are  great 
heights  won.  In  your  period  of  passion  you  must  sub- 
ordinate instinctive  desire  to  your  reason,  your  con- 
science, your  heart  and  soul ;  the  lust  of  the  body  to 
the  spirit's  love.  In  the  period  of  ambition  you  must 
co-ordinate  all  that  is  personal  or  selfish  with  what  is 
absolutely  true,  just,  holy,  and  good.  Surely  this  will 
demand  self-denial,  now  of  instinctive  desire,  now  of 
selfish  ambition.  Much  you  must  sacrifice;  but  you 
will  gain  the  possession,  the  use,  the  development,  and 
the  joy  of  your  own  mind  and  conscience,  heart  and 
soul.  You  will  never  sacrifice  truth,  justice,  holiness,  or 
love.  All  these  you  will  gain  ;  gain  for  to-day,  gain  for- 
ever. What  inward  blessedness  will  you  acquire !  what 
strength,  what  tranquillity,  what  loveliness,  what  joy  in 
God !  You  will  have  your  delight  in  him ;  he  his  in 
you.  Is  it  not  worth  while  to  live  so  that  you  know 
you  are  in  unison  with  God ;  in  unison  too,  with  men ; 
in  quantity  growing  more,  in  quality  superior  ?  Make 
the  trial  for  manly  excellence,  and  the  result  is  yours, 
for  time  and  for  eternity. 


216  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


CONSCIOUS  EELIGION  AS  A   SOUECE   OF 
STRENGTH. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  A  SERMON  FROM   THE   TEXT  — 

The  Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life.  —  Psalm  xxvii.  1. 

:  ...  Strength  of  character  appears  in  two  general 
modes  of  power,  accordingly  as  it  is  tried  by  one  or  other 
of  two  tests.  It  is  power  to  do,  or  power  to  bear.  One 
is  active,  and  the  other  passive,  but  both  are  only.diverse 
modes  of  the  same  thing.  The  hard  anvil  can  bear  the 
blows  of  the  hard  hammer  which  smites  it,  because  there 
is  the  same  solidity  in  the  nether  anvil  which  bears  up, 
as  in  the  upper  hammer  which  bears  down.  It  takes  as 
much  solidity  to  bear  the  blow  as  to  give  it ;  only  one 
is  solidity  active,  the  other  merely  passive. 
;  Religion  increases  the  general  strength  and  volume 
of  character.  The  reason  is  plain :  Religion  is  keeping 
the  natural  law  of  human  nature  in  its  threefold  mode 
of  action,  —  in  relation  to  myself,  to  my  brother,  and  to 
my  God ;  the  co-ordination  of  my  will  with  the  will  of 
God,  with  the  ideal  of  my  nature.  So  it  is  action  ac- 
cording to  my  nature,  not  against  it ;  it  is  the  agreement 
of  my  finite  will  with  the  infinite  Will  which  controls 
the  universe  and  provides  for  each  portion  thereof. 

Now,  to  use  a  thing  against  its  nature,  to  abuse  it,  is 
ultimately  to  fail  of  the  natural  end  thereof,  and  waste 
the  natural  means  provided  for  the  attainment  of  the 
end.     A  boat  is  useful  to  journey  with  by  sea,  a  chaise 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF    STRENGTH.      217 

to  journey  with  by  land ;  use  eaeh  for  its  purpose,  you 
enjoy  the  means  and  achieve  the  end.  But  put  off  to 
sea  in  your  chaise,  or  put  on  to  land  in  your  boat,  you 
miss  the  end,  —  you  lose  also  the  means.  This  is  true 
of  the  natural,  as  of  the  artificial  instruments  of  man ; 
of  his  limbs,  as  of  his  land-carriages  or  sea-carriages. 
Hands  are  to  work  with,  feet  to  walk  on;  the  feet  would- 
make  a  poor  figure  in  working,  the  hands  an  ill  figure 
in  essaying  to  walk.  The  same  rule  holds  good  in  re- 
spect to  spiritual  faculties  as  in  bodily  organs.  Passion 
is  not  designed  to  rule  conscience,  but  to  serve ;  con- 
science not  to  serve  passion,  but  to  rule.  If  passion  rule 
and  conscience  serve,  the  end  is  not  reached,  —  you  are 
in  a  state  of  general  discord  with  yourself,  your  brother, 
and  your  God;  the  means  also  fail  and  perish,  —  con- 
science becomes  weak,  the  passion  itself  dies  from  the 
plethora  of  its  indulgence ;  the  whole  man  grows  less 
and  less,  till  he  becomes  the  smallest  thing  he  is  capable 
of  dwindling  into.  But  if  conscience  rule  and  passion 
serve,  all  goes  well;  you  reach  the  end,  —  welfare  in 
genera],  harmony  with  yourself,  concord  with  your 
brother,  and  unity  with  your  God;  you  keep  the  means, 
—  conscience  and  passion  are  each  in  position,  and  at 
their  proper  function;  the  faculties  enlarge  until  they- 
reach  their  entire  measure  of  possible  growth,  and  the 
whole  man  becomes  the  greatest  he  is  capable  of  being 
here  and  now. 

You  see  this  strength  of  character,  which  naturally 
results  from  religion,  not  only  in  its  general  forms,  but 
in  its  special  modes.  Look  a  moment  at  the  passive" 
power,  the  power  to  endure  suffering.  See  the  fact  in 
the  endurance  of  the  terrible  artificial  torments  that  are 
used  to  put  down  new  forms  of  religion,  or  extinguish 
the  old.     While  men  believe  in  the  divinity  of  matter, 


218  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

they  try  suspected  persons  oy  exposure  to  the  elements, 
—  walking  over  red-hot  ploughshares,  holding  fire  in  the 

•  naked  hand,  or  plunging  into  water.  All  new  forms  of 
religion  must  pass  through  the  same  ordeal,  and  run  the 
gantlet    betwixt   bishops,  priests,   inquisitors ;   between 

•  scribes,  Pharisees,  and  hypocrites.  See  how  faithfully 
the  trial  has  been  borne.  Men  naturally  shrink  from 
pain ;  the  stout  man  dreads  the  toothache,  he  curls  at 
the  mention  of  the  rheumatism,  and  shivers  at  the  idea 
of  an  ague ;  how  suddenly  he  drops  a  piece  of  burning 
paper  which  would  tease  his  hand  for  a  minute !     But 

•let  a  man  have  religion  wakened  in  his  heart,  and  be 
convinced  that  it  is  of  God,  let  others  attempt  to  drive 
it  out  of  him,  and  how  ready  is  he  to  bear  all  that  malice 
■can  devise  or  tyranny  inflict!  The  thumb-screws  and 
the  racks,  the  whip,  the  gallows,  and  the  stake,  —  the 
religious  man  has  strength  to  bear  all  these  ;  and  Cran- 
mer  holds  his  right  arm,  erring  now  no  more,  in  the 
flame,  till  the  hand  drops  off  in  the  scalding  heat.  You 
know  the  persecutions  of  Peter  and  Paul,  the  martyrdom 
of  Stephen,  the  trials  of  early  Christians,  —  Ignatius, 
Polycarp,  Justin,  Irenseus,  and  the  rest.  They  all  went 
out  to  preach  the  form  of  religion  themselves  had  prac- 
tised, and  enjoyed  in  their  own  souls.  What  could  they 
offer  men  as  an  inducement  to  conversion?  The  common 
argument  at  this  day — respectability,  a  comfortable  life 
■and  an  honorable  death,  the  praise  of  men?  Could 
Origen  and  Cyprian  tell  the  young  maiden,  "  Come  to 
our  church,  and  you  will  be  sure  to  get  a  nice  husband, 
as  dainty  fine  as  any  patrician  in  Ephesus  or  Carthage  "? 
■  Could  they  promise  "  a  fashionable  company  in  prayer," 
and  a  rich  wife  to  the  young  man  who  joined  their  church  ? 
It  was  not  exactly  so  ;  nay,  it  was  considerably  different. 
They  could  offer  their  converts  hunger,  and  nakedness, 


RELIGION  AS  A   SOURCE   OF   STRENGTH.      219 

and  peril,  and  prison,  and  the  sword ;  ay,  and  the  scorn 
of  relatives  and  the  contemporaneous  jeer  of  a  cruel 
world.  But  "  the  word  of  God  grew  and  prevailed." 
The  nice  voluptuary,  the  dainty  woman,  too  delicate  to 
set  foot  upon  the  ground,  became  converted,  and  then 
they  could  defy  the  axe  of  the  headsman  and  the  tor- 
mentor's rack.  Unabashed  they  stood  before  wild  • 
beasts ;  ay,  they  looked  in  the  face  of  the  marshals  and 
commissioners  and  district  judges  of  those  times,  —  men 
who  perverted  law  and  spit  on  justice  with  blasphemous 
expectoration,  —  and  yet  the  religious  soul  did  not  fear  !  • 

.  .  .  You  all  know  what  strength  of  endurance  relig- 
ion gave  to  Bunyan  and  Fox,  and  their  compeers  the 
Quakers,  in  Boston  as  well  as  England ;  to  the  Mor- 
mons in  Missouri,  and  in  all  quarters  of  Christendom. 
Religion  made  these  men  formidably  strong.  The  axe 
of  the  tormentor  was  as  idle  to  stay  them  as  the  gallows 
to  stop  a  sunbeam.  This  power  of  endurance  is  general, 
of  all  forms  of  religion.  It  does  not  doi^cnd  on  what  is 
Jewish  in  Judaism,  or  Christian  in  Christianity,  but  on 
what  is  religious  in  religion,  what  is  human  in  man. 

But  that  is  only  a  spasmodic  form  of  heroism,  —  the 
reaction  of  human  nature  against  unnatural  evil.     You 
see  religion  producing  the  same  strength  to  endure  suf-- 
ferings  which  are  not  arbitrarily  imposed  by  cruel  men. 
The  stories  of  martyrdom  only  bring  out  in  unusual- 
forms  the  silent  heroism  which  works  unheeded  in  soci- 
ety every  day.    The  strength  is  always  there;  oppression,- 
which  makes  wise  men  mad,  in  making  religious  men 
martyrs  only  finds  and  reveals  the  heroism ;  it  does  not 
make  it,  more  than  the  stone-cutter  makes  the  marble 
which  he  hews  into  the  form  his  thought  requires.     The 
heroism  is  always  there.     So  there  is  always  enough 
electricity  in  the  air  above  this  town  to  blast  it  to  atoms 


220  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

and  burn  it  to  cinders.  Not  a  babe  could  be  born  with- 
out it,  not  a  snow-drop  bloom ;  yet  no  one  heeds  the 
silent  force.  Let  two  different  streams  of  air,  one  warm, 
■  the  other  cold,  meet  here,  the  lightning  tells  of  the 
reserved  power  which  hung  all  day  above  our  heads. 
:  I  love  now  and  then  to  look  on  the  strength  of  en- 
durance which  religion  gives  the  most  heroic  martyrs. 
•Even  in  these  times  the  example  is  needed.  Though 
the  fagot  is  only  ashes  now,  and  the  axe's  edge  is  blunt, 
•there  are  other  forms  of  martyrdom,  bloodless,  yet  not 
less  cruel  in  motive  and  effect.  But  I  love  best  to  see 
this  same  strength  in  lovelier  forms,  enduring  the  com- 
mon ills  of  life,  —  poverty,  sickness,  disappointment,  the 
loss  of  friends,  the  withering  of  the  fondest  hopes  of 
mortal  men.  One  is  occasional  lightning,  thundering 
and  grand,  but  transient;  the  other  is  daily  sunshine 
which  makes  no  noisy  stir  on  any  day,  but  throughout 
the  year  is  constant,  creative,  and  exceeding  beautiful. 
•  Did  you  never  see  a  young  woman  with  the  finest 
faculties,  every  hope  of  mortal  success  crushed  in  her 
heart;  see  her  endure  it  all,  —  the  slow  torture  which 
eats  away  the  mortal  from  the  immortal, — with  a  spirit 
still  unruffled,  with  a  calm  cheerfulness  and  a  strong 
trust  in  God  ?  We  all  have  seen  such  things,  —  the 
loveliest  forms  of  martyrdom. 

;  Did  you  never  see  a  young  man  with  large  faculties, 
fitting  him  to  shine  among  the  loftiest  stars  of  this  our 
human  heaven,  in  the  name  of  duty  forego  his  own  in- 
tellectual culture  for  the  sake  of  a  mother,  a  sister,  or  a 
father  dependent  upon  his  toil,  and  be  a  drudge  when  he 
might  else  have  been  a  shining  light ;  and  by  the  grace 
of  religion  do  it  so  that  in  all  of  what  he  counted  drudg- 
ery he  was  kinglier  than  a  king  ?  Did  you  never  see  the 
wife,  the  daughter,  or  the  son  of  a  drunkard  sustained  by 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      221 

their  religion  to  bear  sorrows  to  which  Nebuchadnezzar's 
seven-fokl  heated  furnace  were  a  rose-garden,  —  bear  it 
and  not  complain,  —  grow  sweeter  in  that  bitterness  ? 
There  are  many  such  examples  all  about  us,  and  holy- 
souls  go  through  that  misery  of  torture  clean  as  sun- 
light through  the  pestilential  air  of  a  town  stricken  with 
plague.  So  the  pagan  poets  tell  a  story  of  the  fountain 
Arethusa,  which  for  many  a  league  ran  through  the 
salt  and  bitter  sea,  all  the  way  from  Peloponnesus  to 
Trinacria,  and  then  came  up  pure,  sweet,  and  sparkling 
water,  far  off  in  Ortygia,  spreading  greenness  and  growth 
in  the  valley,  where  the  anemone  and  asphodel  paid  back 
their  beauty  to  the  stream  which  gave  them  life. 

Such  are  daily  examples  of  the  fortitude  and  strength  • 
to  suffer  which  religion  gives.    When  we  look  carelessly 
on  men  in  their  work  or  their  play,  busy  in  the  streets 
or  thoughtful  in  a  church,  we  think  little  of  the  amount  ■ 
of  religion  there  is  in  these  human  hearts ;  but  when  • 
you  need  it  in  times  of  great  trial,  then  it  comes  up  in  ■ 
the  broad  streets  and  little  lanes  of  life.     Disappoint-  • 
ment  is  a  bitter  root,  and  sorrow  is  a  bitter  flower,  and 
suffering  is  a  bitter  fruit,  but  the  religious  soul  makes  ■ 
medicine  thereof,  and  is  strengthened  even  by  the  poi- 
sons of  life.     So  out  of  a  brewer's  dregs  and  a  distiller's 
waste  in  a  city  have  I  seen  the  bee  suck  sweetest  honey 
for  present  joy,  and  lay  it  up  for  winter's  use.     Yea,  the 
strong  man  in  the  fable,  while  hungering,  found  honey  in 
the  lion's  bones  he  once  had  slain;  got  delight  from  the 
destroyer,  and  meat  out  of  the  eater's  mouth. 

Why  is  it  that  the  religious  man  has  this  power  to  • 
suffer  and  endure  ?     Religion  is  the  normal  mode  of  life  • 
for  man,  and  when  he  uses  his  faculties  according  to 
their  natural  law,  they  act  harmoniously,  and  all  grow 
strong.    Besides  this,  the  religious  man  has  a  confidence  ■ 


222  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

in  his  God ;  he  knows  there  is  the  Infinite  One,  who  has 
•foreseen  all,  and  provided  for  all,  —  provided  a  recom- 
pense for  all  the  unavoidable  suffering  of  his  children 
here.     If  you  know  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  purpose  of 
the  infinite  Father  that  you  must  suffer  to  accomplish 
your  own  development,  or  the  development  of  mankind, 
yet  understand  that  the  suffering  must  needs  be  a  good 
for  you,  then  you  will  not  fear.     "  The  flesh  may  quiver 
as  the  pincers  tear,"  but  you  quiver  not;  the  will  is  firm, 
and  firm  is  the  unconquerable  trust.     "  Be  still,  0  flesh, 
and  burn  ! "  says  the  martyr  to  the  molecules  of  dust  that 
form  his  chariot  of  time,  —  and  the  three  holy  children 
of  the  Hebrew  tale  sing  psalms  in  their  fiery  furnace,  a 
Fourth  with  them;  and  Stephen  in  his  stoning  thinks 
•that  he  sees  his  God,  and  to  Paul  in  his  prison  there 
comes  a  great  cheering  light ;  yes,  to  Bunyan,  and  Fox, 
and  Latimer,  and  John  Rogers,  in  their  torments ;  to  the 
•poor  maiden  stifled  by  the  slowly  strangling  sea;  to  her 
.  whose  crystal  urn  of  love  is  shattered  at  her  feet ;  to  the 
young  man  who  sees  the  college  of  his  dream  fade  off 
into  a  barn  ;  and  the  mother,  wife,  or  child  who  sees  the 
father  of  the  family  bloat,  deform,  and  uglify  himself 
into  the  drunkard,  and,  falling  into  the  grave,  crush  un- 
dei-neath  his  lumbering  weight  all  of  their  mortal  hopes. 
•Religion  gives  them  all  a  strength   to  suffer,  and  be 
blessed  by  the  trials  they  endure.    There  are  times  when 
nothing  outward  is  left  but  suffering.    Then  it  is  a  great 
•thing  to  have  the  stomach  for  it,  the  faith  in  God  which 
disenchants  the  soul  of  pain.     Did  not  Jesus,  in  the 
Gospel,  have  his  agony  and  his  bloody  sweat,  — the  last 
•  act  of  that  great  tragedy  ?     Did  not  religion  come,  an 
•angel,  to  strengthen  him,  and  all  alone,  deserted,  for- 
saken, he  could  say,  "  I  am  not  alone,  for  the  Father  is 
with  me  "  ? 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      223 

.  .  .  See  this  same  strength  in  another  form,  —  the 
power  to  do.  Religion  not  only  gives  the  feminine 
capacity  to  suffer,  but  the  masculine  capability  to  do. 
The  religious  man  can  do  more  than  another  without 
religion,  who  is  his  equal  in  other  respects ;  because  he 
masters  and  concentrates  his  faculties,  making  them 
work  in  harmony  with  each  other,  in  concord  with  man- 
kind, in  unity  with  God ;  and  because  he  knows  there 
is  a  God  who  works  with  him,  and  so  arranges  the  forces 
of  the  universe  that  every  wrong  shall  be  righted,  and 
the  ultimate  well-being  of  each  be  made  sure  of  forever. 
Besides,  he  has  a  higher  inspiration  and  loftier  motive,- 
which  strengthen,  refine,  and  ennoble  him.  Adam  Clarke 
tells  us  how  much  more  of  mere  intellectual  labor  he 
could  perform  after  his  conversion  than  before.  Ignatius  ■ 
Loyola  makes  the  same  confession.  They  each  attribute 
it  to  the  technical  peculiarity  of  their  sectarianism,  to 
Methodism  or  Catholicism,  to  Christianity ;  but  the  fact 
is  universal,  and  applies  to  religion  under  all  forms.  It 
is  easily  explained  by  the  greater  harmony  of  the  facul-  • 
ties,  and  by  the  higlier  motive  which  animates  the  man,- 
the  more  certain  trust  which  inspires  him.  An  earnest 
youth  in  love  with  an  earnest  maid  —  his  love  returned 
—  gets  more  power  of  character  from  the  ardor  of  her  - 
affection  and  the  strength  of  his  passion ;  and  when  the 
soul  of  man  rises  up  in  its  great  act  of  love  to  become 
one  with  God,  you  need  not  marvel  if  the  man  is  strong.- 
"I  can  do  all  things,"  says  Paul,  "  through  Christ  who 
strengtheneth  me."  Buddhists  and  Hebrews  and  Mo- 
hammedans say  the  same  of  their  religion. 

Then  religion  helps  a  man  to  two  positive  things, —  ' 
first,  to  a  desire  of  the  right ;  next,  to  a  progressive 
knowledge  and  practice  of  the  right.     Justice  is  always  • 
power ;  whoso  has  that  commands  the  world.     A  fool  ■ 


224  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

ill  the  right  way,  says  the  proverb,  can  beat  a  wise  man 
in  the  wrong.  The  civilized  man  has  an  advantage  over 
the  savage,  in  his  knowledge  of  nature.  He  can  make 
the  forces  of  the  universe  toil  for  him :  the  wind  drives 
his  ship ;  the  water  turns  his  mill,  spins  and  weaves  for 
him  ;  lightning  runs  his  errands  ;  steam  carries  the  new 
•  lord  of  nature  over  land  or  ocean  without  rest.  He  that 
knows  justice,  and  does  it,  has  the  same  advantage  over 
all  that  do  it  not.  He  sets  his  mill  on  the  rock,  and 
the  river  of  God  forever  turns  his  wheels. 

The  practice  of  the  right  in  the  common  affairs  of 
life  is  called  honesty.  An  honest  man  is  one  who  knows, 
loves,  and  does  right  because  it  is  right.  Is  there  any- 
thing but  this  total  integrity,  which  I  call  religion,  that 
can  be  trusted  to  keep  a  man  honest  in  small  things 
and  great  things,  in  things  private  and  things  public  ? 
I  know  nothing  else  with  this  power.  True,  it  is  said, 
"honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  and  as  all  men  love  the 
best  policy,  they  will  be  honest  for  that  reason.  But  to 
follow  the  best  policy  is  a  very  different  thing  from  being 
honest ;  the  love  of  justice  and  the  love  of  personal 
profit  or  pleasure  are  quite  different.  But  is  honesty 
the  best  policy  ?  Policy  is  means  to  achieve  a  special 
end.  If  the  end  you  seek  be  the  common  object  of 
desire,  —  if  it  be  material  pleasure  in  your  period  of 
passion,  or  material  profit  in  your  period  of  ambition, — 
if  you  seek  for  money,  for  ease,  honor,  power  over  men, 
and  their  approbation,  —  then  honesty  is  not  the  best 
.  policy  ;  is  means  from  it,  not  to  it.  Honesty  of  thought 
and  speech  is  the  worst  policy  for  a  minister's  clerical 
reputation.  Charity  impairs  an  estate  ;  unpopular  ex- 
cellence is  the  ruin  of  a  man's  respectability.  It  is  good 
policy  to  lie  in  the  popular  way ;  to  steal  after  the  re- 
spectable fashion.     The  hard  creditor  is  surest  of  his 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      225 

debt ;  the  cruel  landlord  does  not  lose  his  rent ;  the 
severe  master  is  uniformly  served  the  best ;  who  gives 
little  and  with  a  grudge  finds  often  the  most  of  obvious 
gratitude.  He  that  destroys  the  perishing  is  more  hon- 
ored in  Christendom  than  he  who  comes  to  save  the 
lost.  The  slave-hunter  is  a  popular  Christian  in  the 
American  church,  and  gets  his  pay  in  money  and  eccle- 
siastical reputation.  The  honesty  of  Jesus  brought  him 
to  the  bar  of  Herod  and  Pilate  ;  their  best  policy  nailed 
him  to  the  cross.  Was  it  good  policy  in  Paul  to  turn 
Christian  ?  His  honesty  brought  him  to  weariness  and 
painfulness,  to  cold  and  nakedness,  to  stripes  and  im- 
prisonment, to  a  nateful  reputation  on  the  earth.  Hon- 
esty the  best  policy  for  personal  selfishness !  Ask  the 
"  Holy  Alliance."  Honesty  is  the  means  to  self-respect, 
to  growth  in  manly  qualities,  to  high  human  welfare,  — 
a  means  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  When  men  claim 
that  honesty  is  the  best  policy,  is  it  this  which  they 
mean  ? 

I  will  not  say  a  man  cannot  be  honest  without  a  distinct 
consciousness  of  his  relation  to  God  ;  but  I  must  say  that 
consciousness  of  God  is  a  great  help  to  honesty  in  the 
business  of  a  shop,  or  the  business  of  a  nation  ;  and  with- 
out religion,  unconscious  if  no  more,  it  seems  to  me 
honesty  is  not  possible. 

By  reminding  me  of  my  relation  to  the  universe,  relig- 
ion helps  counteract  the  tendency  to  selfishness.  Self- 
love  is  natural  and  indispensable ;  it  keeps  the  man 
whole,  —  is  the  centripetal  power,  representing  the  nat- 
ural cohesion  of  all  the  faculties.  Without  that,  the 
man  would  drop  to  pieces,  as  it  were,  and  be  dissolved 
in  the  mass  of  men,  as  a  lump  of  clay  in  the  ocean. 
Selfishness  is  the  abnormal  excess  of  this  self-love.  It 
takes  various  forms.     In  the  period  of  passion,  it  com- 

15 


226  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

monly  shows  itself  as  intemperate  love  of  sensual  pleasure ; 
in  the  period  of  ambition,  as  intemperate  love  of  money, 
of  power,  rank,  or  renown.  There  are  as  many  modes 
of  selfishness  as  there  are  propensities  which  may  go  to 
excess  Self-love  belongs  to  the  natural  harmony  of  the 
faculties,  and  is  a  means  of  strength.  Selfishness  comes 
from  the  tyranny  of  some  one  appetite  which  subordinates 
the  other  faculties  of  man,  and  is  a  cause  of  weakness,  a 
disqualification  for  my  duties  to  myself,  to  my  brother, 
and  my  God.  Now  the  effort  to  become  religious,  work- 
ing in  you  a  love  of  man  and  of  God,  a  desire  of  harmony 
with  yourself,  of  concord  with  man  and  unity  with  him, 
diminishes  selfishness,  develops  your  instinctive  self-love 
into  conscious  self-respect,  into  faithfulness  to  yourself, 
and  so  enlarges  continually  the  little  ring  of  your  charac- 
ter, and  makes  you  strong  to  bear  the  crosses  and  do  the 
duties  of  daily  life. 

Much  of  a  man's  ability  consists  in  his  power  to  con- 
centrate his  energies  for  a  purpose ;  in  power  to  deny 
some  private  selfish  lust  —  of  material  pleasure  or  profit 
—  for  the  sake  of  public  love.  I  know  of  naught  but 
religion  that  can  be  trusted  to  promote  this  power  of 
self-denial,  which  is  indispensable  to  a  manly  man. 
There  can  be  no  great  general  power  without  this  ;  no 
strong  character  that  lies  deep  in  the  sea  and  holds  on 
its  way  through  sunshine  and  through  storm,  and  una- 
bashed by  tempests  comes  safe  to  port.  I  suppose  you 
all  know  men  and  women  who  now  are  not  capable  of 
any  large  self-denial,  —  the  babies  of  mere  selfish  in- 
stinct. It  is  painful  to  look  on  such,  domineered  over 
by  their  propensities.  Compared  to  noble-hearted  men 
and  women,  they  are  as  the  mushroom  and  the  toad- 
stool to  the  oak,  under  whose  shade  the  fungus  springs 
up  in  a  rainy  night  to  blacken  and  perish  in  a  day.    Self- 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.    227 

denial  is  indispensable  to  a  strong  character,  and  the 
loftiest  kind  thereof  comes  only  of  a  religious  stock,  — 
from  consciousness  of  obligation  and  dependence  upon 
God. 

In  youth  the  seductions  of  passion  lead  us  easily  astray ; 
in  manhood  there  are  the  more  dangerous  seductions  of 
ambition,  when  lust  of  pleasure  gives  way  to  lust  of 
profit ;  and  in  old  age  the  man  is  often  the  victim  of 
the  propensities  he  delicately  nursed  in  earlier  life,  and 
dwindles  down  into  the  dotage  of  a  hunker  or  a  libertine. 
It  is  easy  to  yield  now  to  this,  and  then  to  that,  but  both 
mislead  us  to  our  partial  and  general  loss,  to  weakness 
of  power  and  poverty  of  achievement,  to  shipwreck  of 
this  great  argosy  of  mortal  life.  How  many  do  you  see 
slain  by  lust  of  pleasure !  How  many  more  by  lust  of 
power,  —  pecuniary,  social,  or  political  power !  Religious  ■ 
self-denial  would  have  kept  them  strong  and  beautiful 
and  safe. 

Religion  gives  a  man  courage.     I  do  not  mean  the  '■ 
courage  which  comes  of  tough  muscles  and  rigid  nerves, 
—  of  a  stomach  which  never  surrenders.     That  also  is  a 
good  thing,  the  hardihood  of  the  flesh  ;  let  me  do  it  no 
injustice.     But  I  mean  the  higher,  moral  courage,  which  • 
can  look  danger  and  death  in  the  face  unawed  and  undis-  • 
mayed  ;  the  courage  that  can  encounter  loss  of  ease,  of 
wealth,  of  friends,  of  your  own  good  name  ;  the  courage 
that  can  face  a  world  full  of  howling  and  of  scorn,  —  ay,  ■ 
of  loathing  and  of  hate  ;  can  see  all  these  with  a  smile, 
and,  suffering  it  all,  can  still  toil  on,  conscious  of  the  • 
result,  yet  fearless  still.     I  do  not  mean  the  courage  that 
hates,  that  smites,  that  kills,  but  the  calm  courage  that- 
loves  and  heals  and  blesses  such  as  smite  and  hate  and 
kill ;  the  courage  that  dares  resist  evil,  popular,  power-- 
ful,  anointed  evil,  yet  does  it  with  good,  and  knows  it 


228  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

shall  thereby  overcome.  That  is  not  a  common  quality. 
I  think  it  never  comes  without  religion.  It  belongs  to 
all  great  forms  of  religious  excellence  ;  it  is  not  specifi- 
cally Hebrew  or  Christian,  but  generically  human  and 
of  religion  under  all  forms. 

Without  this  courage  a  man  looks  little  and  mean, 
especially  a  man  otherwise  great, — with  great  intellect 
and  great  culture,  and  occupying  a  great  place.  You 
see  all  about  you  how  little  such  men  are  worth  ;  too 
cowardly  to  brave  a  temporary  defeat,  they  are  swiftly 
brought  to  permanent  ruin.  Look  over  the  long  array 
of  brilliant  names  in  American,  English,  universal  his- 
tory, and  see  what  lofty  men,  born  to  a  large  estate  of 
intellect,  and  disciplined  to  manifold  and  brilliant  men- 
tal power,  for  lack  of  courage  to  be  true  amid  the  false, 
and  upright  amid  the  grovelling,  have  laid  their  proud 
foreheads  in  the  dust,  and  mean  men  have  triumphed 
over  the  mighty  ! 

Did  you  never  read  here  in  your  Old  Testament,  here 
in  your  New  Testament,  here  in  your  Apocrypha,  how 
religion  gave  men,  yea,  and  women  too,  this  courage, 
and  said  to  them,  "  Be  strong  and  very  courageous  ;  turn 
not  to  the  right  hand,  neither  to  the  left,"  —  and  made 
heroes  out  of  Jeremiah  and  Elias  ?  Did  you  never  read 
of  the  strength  of  courage,  the  courage  of  conscience, 
which  religion  gave  to  the  "  unlearned  and  ignorant 
men  "  who,  from  peasants  that  trembled  before  a  He- 
brew Rabbi's  copious  beard,  became  apostles  to  stand 
before  the  wrath  of  kings  and  not  quake,  to  found 
churches  by  their  prayers,  and  to  feed  them  with  their 
■  blood  ?  You  know,  we  all  know,  what  courage  conscious 
•  religion  gave  to  our  fathers.  Their  corporal  courage 
grew  more  firmly  knit,  as  men  learned  by  bitter  blows 
who  crossed  swords  with  them  on  the  battle-field ;  but 


RELIGION  AS  A   SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      229 

their  moral  courage  grew  giant  high.     You  know  how 
they  dwelt  here,  amid   what  suffering,  yet  with  what  ■ 
patience  ;  how  they  toiled  to  build  up  these  houses,  these 
churches,  and  the  institutions  of  the  State.  . 

With  this  honesty,  this  self-denial,  there  comes  a  total  • 
energy  of  character  which  nothing  else  can  give.     You 
see  what  strength  religion  gives  ;  what  energy  and  con- 
tinual persistence  in  their  cause  it  gave  to  men  like  the 
Apostles,  like  the  martyrs  and  great  saints  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  of  the  Hebrew,  the  Mohammedan,  and  the 
Pagan  church.     You  may  see   this  energy  in  a  rough- 
form  in  the  soldiers  of  the  English  revolution,  in  the 
"  Ironsides  "  of  Cromwell,  in  the  stern  and  unflinching  ■ 
endurance  of  the  Puritans  of  either  England,  the  Old  or 
the  New,  who  both  did  and  suffered  what  is  possible  to  • 
mortal  flesh  only  when  it  is  sustained  by  a  religious  faith. 
But  you  see  it  in  forms  far  more  beautiful,  as  represented  • 
by  the  missionaries  who  carry  the  glad  tidings  of  their 
faith  to  other  lands,  and  endure  the  sorrows  of  perse-  • 
cution  with  the  long-suffering  and  loving-kindness  we 
worship  in  the  good  God.     This  is  not  peculiar  to  Chris- 
tianity.    The  Buddhists  had  their  missionaries  hundreds 
of  years  before  Jesus  of  Nazareth  first  saw  the  light. 
They  seem  to  have  been  the  first  that  ever  went  abroad, 
not  to  conquer,  but  convert ;  not  to  get  power,  or  wealth, 
or  even  wisdom,  but  to  carry  the  power  of  the  mind,  the 
riches  of  conscience  and  the  affections,  and  the  wisdom 
of  the  soul ;  and  in  them  you  find  the  total  energy  which 
religious  conviction  gives  to  manly  character  in  its  hour 
of  peril.     But  why  go  abroad  to  look  for  this  ?   Our  own 
streets  exhibit  the  same  thing  in  the  form  of  the  philan- 
thropist.     The  sister  of   charity  treads  the   miserable 
alleys  of  Naples  and  of  Rome ;  the  Catholic  visitor  of 
the  poor  winds  along  in  the  sloughs  and  slums  of  St. 


230  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Giles's  parish  in  Protestant  London,  despised  and  hated 
by  the  well-endowed  clergy,  whose  church  aisles  are 
never  trodden  save  by  wealthy  feet ;  and  in  the  mire  of 
the  street,  in  the  reeking  squalidness  of  the  cellars,  where 
misery  burrows  with  crime,  he  labors  for  their  bodies  and 
their  souls.  In  our  own  Boston  do  I  not  know  feeble- 
bodied  and  delicate  women,  who  with  their  feet  write  out 
the  gospel  of  loving-kindness  and  tender  mercy  on  the 
mud  or  the  snow  of  the  kennels  of  this  city  ?  —  women 
of  wise  intellect  and  nice  culture,  who,  like  that  great 
philanthropist,  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost. 

Look  at  the  reformers  of  America  at  this  day, — some 
of  them  men  of  large  abilities,  of  commensurate  culture, 
of  easy  estate,  once  respected,  flattered,  and  courted  too 
by  their  associates,  but  now  despised  for  their  justice 
and  their  charity,  hated  for  the  eminent  affection  which 
makes  them  look  after  the  welfare  of  the  criminal,  the 
drunkard,  the  pauper,  the  outcast,  and  the  slave,  and 
feared  for  the  power  with  which  they  assert  the  rights 
of  man  against  the  wrongs  which  avarice  inflicts.  See 
the  total  energy  which  marks  these  men,  whose  life  is 
a  long  profession  of  religion,  —  their  creed  writ  all  over 
the  land,  and  their  history  a  slow  martyrd£)m, — and  you 
may  see  the  vigor  which  comes  of  religious  conviction. 
These  are  the  nobler  forms  of  energy.  The  soldier 
destroys,  at  best  defends,  while  the  philanthropist 
creates. 

Last  of  all  these  forms  of  strength,  religion  gives  the 
power  of  self-reliance ;  reliance  on  your  mind  for  truth, 
on  your  conscience  for  justice,  on  your  heart  for  love, 
on  your  soul  for  faith,  and  through  all  these  reliance  on 
the  infinite  God.  Then  you  will  keep  the  integrity  of 
your  own  nature  spite  of  the  mightiest  men,  spite  of  a 


RELIGION  AS  A   SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      231 

multitude  of  millions,  spite  of  States  and  cliurches  and 
traditions,  and  a  worldly  world  filled  with  covetousness 
and  priestcraft.  You  will  say  to  them  all,  "  Stand  by, 
and  let  alone ;  I  must  be  true  to  myself,  and  thereby  • 
true  to  my  God." 

I  think  nothing  but  religion  can  give  any  man  this 
strength  to  do  and  to  suffer ;  that  without  this,  the  men 
of  greatest  gift  and  greatest  attainment  too,  do  not  live 
out  half  the  glory  of  their  days,  nor  reach  half  their 
stature.  Look  over  the  list  of  the  world's  great  failures, 
and  see  why  Alexander,  Csesar,  and  Napoleon  came  each 
to  such  an  untimely  and  vulgar  end !  flad  they  added 
religion  to  their  attainments  and  their  conquests,  what 
empires  of  welfare  would  they  not  hold  in  fee,  and  give 
us  to  enjoy  !  Without  it,  the  greatest  man  is  a  failure.  • 
With  it,  the  smallest  is  a  triumph.  He  adds  to  his 
character ;  he  enjoys  his  strength ;  he  delights  while  he 
rejoices,  growing  to  more  vigorous  manliness  ;  and  when 
the  fragrant  petals  of  the  spirit  burst  asunder  and  crowd 
off  this  outer  husk  of  the  body,  and  bloom  into  glorious 
humanity,  what  a  strong  and  flame-like  flower  shall 
blossom  there  for  everlasting  life. 

There  are  various  forms  of  strength.  Wealth  is 
power ;  office  is  power ;  beauty  is  power ;  knowledge  is 
power.  Religion  too  is  power.  This  is  the  power  of- 
powers,  for  it  concentrates,  moves,  and  directs  aright 
the  force  of  money,  of  office,  of  beauty,  and  of  knowl- 
edge. Do  men  understand  this  ?  They  often  act  and 
live  as  if  they  knew  it  not.  Look  at  our  "  strong  men," 
not  only  mighty  by  position  in  office  or  on  money,  but 
mighty  by  nature.  In  what  are  they  strong  ?  In  a 
knowledge  of  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  men;  of  the 
interests  and  expedients  and  honors  of  the  day ;  in  a 
knowledge  of  men's  selfishness  and  their  willingness  to 


232  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

• 
sin ;  in  experienced  skill  to  use  the  means  for  certain 
selfish,  low,  and  ignoble  ends,  organizing  a  contrivance 
against  mankind ;  in  power  of  speech  and  act  to  make 
the  better  seem  the  worse,  and  wrong  assume  the  guise 
of  right.  It  is  in  this  that  our  "  great  men  "  are  chieflj 
•  great.  They  are  weak  in  a  knowledge  of  what  in  man 
is  noble,  even  when  he  errs  ;  they  know  nothing  of 
justice ;  they  care  little  for  love.  They  know  the 
animal  that  is  in  us,  not  the  human,  far  less  the  god- 
like. Mighty  in  cunning,  they  are  weak  in  knowledge 
of  the  true,  the  just,  the  good,  the  holy,  and  the  ever 
beautiful.  They  look  up  at  the  mountains  and  mock  at 
God.  So  they  are  impotent  to  know  the  expedient  of 
eternity,  what  profits  now  and  profits  for  ever  and  ever. 
•Blame  them  not  too  much;  the  educational  forces  of 
society  breed  up  such  men,  —  as  college  lads  all  learn  to 
cipher  and  to  scan. 

In  the  long  run  of  the  ages  see  how  the  religious  man 
distances  the  unreligious.  The  memory  of  him  who 
seeks  to  inaugurate  cunning  into  the  State  for  his  own 
behoof  is  ere  long  gibbeted  before  the  world,  and  his  lie 
is  cast  out  with  scorn  and  hate ;  and  the  treason  of  the 
traitor  to  mankind  is  remembered  only  with  a  curse ; 
while  the  wisdom  of  the  wise,  the  justice  of  the  upright, 
the  love  of  the  affectionate,  and  the  piety  of  holy-hearted 
men,  incarnated  in  the  institutions  of  the  State,  live,  and 
will  forever  live,  long  after  Rome  and  America  have 
gone  to  the  ground.  Tyrants  have  a  short  breath,  their 
fame  a  sudden  ending ;  and  the  power  of  the  ungodly, 
like  the  lamp  of  the  wicked,  shall  soon  be  put  out ;  their 
counsel  is  carried,  but  it  is  carried  headlong.  He  that 
seeks  only  the  praise  of  men  gets  that  but  for  a  day ; 
while  the  religious  man,  who  seeks  only  to  be  faithful 
to  himself  and  his  God,  and   represent  on  earth   the 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      233 

absolute  true  and  just,  all  heedless  of  the  applause  of 
men,  lives,  and  will  forever  live,  in  the  admiration  of 
mankind,  and  in  "  the  pure  eyes  and  perfect  witness 
of  all-judging  Jove."  ChampoUion  painfully  deciphers  the 
names  of  the  Egyptian  kings  who  built  the  pyramids  and 
swayed  millions  of  men.  For  three  thousand  years  that 
lettered  muse,  the  sculptured  stone,  in  silence  kept  the 
secret  of  their  name.  But  the  fugitive  slave,  a  bonds- 
man of  that  king,  with  religion  in  his  heart,  has  writ 
his  power  on  all  the  continents,  and  dotted  the  name  of 
Moses  on  every  green  or  snow-clad  isle  of  either  sea. 
That  name  shall  still  endure  when  the  last  stones  of  the 
last  pyramid  become  gas  and  exhale  to  heaven.  The 
peasant  of  Galilee  has  embosomed  his  own  name  in  the 
religion  of  mankind,  and  the  world  will  keep  it  forever. 
Foolish  men !  building  your  temple  of  fame  on  the  ex- 
pedients of  to-day,  and  of  selfishness  and  cunning  and 
eloquent  falsehood  !  That  shall  stand,  —  will  it  ?  On 
the  frozen  bosom  of  a  northern  lake,  go  build  your  palace 
of  ice.  Colonnade  and  capital,  how  they  glitter  in  the 
light  when  the  northern  dawn  is  red  about  the  pole,  or 
the  colder  moon  looks  on  your  house  of  frost !  "  This 
will  endure.  Why  carve  out  the  granite,  and  painfully 
build  upon  the  rock  ? "  Ah  me !  at  the  touch  of  March, 
the  ice-temple  and  its  ice-foundation  take  the  leap  of 
Niagara ;  and  in  April  the  skiff  of  the  fisherman  finds 
no  vestige  of  all  that  pomp  and  pride.  But  the  temple 
of  granite,  —  where  is  that  ?  Ask  Moses,  ask  Jesus,  ask 
mankind,  what  power  it  is  that  lasts  from  age  to  age, 
when  selfish  ambition  melts  in  the  stream  of  time. 

Well,  we  are  all  here  for  a  great  work,  not  merely  to 
grow  up  and  eat  and  drink,  to  have  estates  called  after 
us  and  children  born  in  our  name.     We  are  all  here  to- 
be  men ;  to  do  the  most  of  human  duty  possible  for  us, 


234  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

and  so  to  have  the  most  of  human  right  and  enjoy  the 
most  of  human  welfare.  Religion  is  a  good  thing  in 
itself ;  it  is  the  betrothed  bride  of  the  spirit  of  man,  to 
be  loved  for  her  own  sweet  sake  ;  not  a  servant,  to  be 
taken  for  use  alone.  But  it  is  the  means  to  this  end,  — 
to  strength  of  character,  enlarging  the  little  and  great- 
ening  the  great. 

You  and  I  shall  have  enough  to  suffer,  most  of  us ; 
enough  to  do.  We  shall  have  our  travail,  our  temptation, 
perhaps  our  agony,  but  our  triumph  too. 

0  smooth-faced  youths  and  maids  !  —  your  cheek  and 
brow  yet  innocent  of  stain,  —  do  you  believe  you  shall 
■pass  through  life  and  suffer  naught  ?  Trial  will  come  on 
you ;  you  shall  have  your  agony  and  bloody  sweat.  Seek 
in  the  beginning  for  the  strength  which  religion  brings 
you,  and  you  shall  indeed  bo  strong,  powerful  to  suffer, 
and  mighty  also  to  do.  I  will  not  say  your  efforts  will 
keep  you  from  every  error,  every  sin.  When  a  boy,  I 
might  have  thought  so ;  as  a  man,  I  know  better,  by 
observation  and  my  own  experience  too.  Sin  is  an  ex- 
periment that  fails,  —  a  stumble,  not  upright  walking. 
•Expect  such  mishaps,  errors  of  the  mind,  errors  of  the 
conscience,  errors  of  the  affections,  errors  of  the  soul. 
What  pine  tree  never  lost  a  limb  ?  The  best  mathe- 
matician now  and  then  misses  a  figure,  must  rub  out 
his  work  and  start  anew.  The  greatest  poet  must  often 
mend  a  liue,  and  will  write  fa,ulty  verses  in  the  heat  of 
song.  Milton  has  many  a  scraggy  line,  and  even  good 
Homer  sometimes  nods.  What  defects  are  there  in  the 
proud  works  of  Raphael  and  Angclo !  Is  there  no  fail- 
ure in  Mozart  ?  In  such  a  mighty  work  as  this  of  life, 
—  such  a  complication  of  forces  within,  of  circumstances 
without,  such  imperfect  guidance  as  the  world  can 
■furnish  in  this  work,  —  I  should  expect  to  miss  the  way 


RELIGION  AS  A    SOURCE   OF  STRENGTH.      235 

sometimes,  and  with  painful  feet,  and  heart  stung  by 
self-reproacli,  or  grief,  or  shame,  retread  the  way  shame- 
faced and  sad.  The  field  that  is  ploughed  all  over  by 
remorse,  driving  his  team  that  breathe  fire,  yields  not  a 
faint  harvest  to  the  great  Reaper's  hand.  Trust  in  God 
will  do  two  things.  It  will  keep  you  from  many  an 
error;  nobody  knows  how  great  a  gain  this  is  till  he- 
has  tried.  Then  it  will  help  you  after  you  have  wan- 
dered from  the  way.  Fallen,  you  will  not  despair,  but 
rise  the  wiser  and  the  stronger  for  the  fall.  Do  you 
look  for  strength  to  your  brave  young  hearts,  and 
streams  of  life  to  issue  thence  ?  Here  you  shall  find 
it,  and  with  freshened  life  pass  on  your  way.  Religion 
is  the  Moses  to  smite  the  rock  in  the  wilderness. 

0  bearded  men,  and  women  that  have  kept  and  hoarded 
much  in  your  experienced  hearts,  you  also  seek  for 
power  to  bear  your  crosses  and  to  do  your  work.  Relig- 
ion will  be  the  strength  of  your  life,  —  you  may  do  all 
things  through  this.  When  tlie  last  act  of  the  mortal 
drama  draws  towards  a  close,  you  will  look  joyfully  to 
the  end,  —  not  with  fear,  but  with  a  triumphant  joy. 

There  are  two  great  things  which  make  up  the  obvious 
part  of  life,  —  to  do,  to  suffer.     Behind  both  as  cause,- 
and  before  each  as  result,  is  one  thing  greater,  —  to  be. 
Religion  is  true  being,  normal  life  in  yourself,  in  nature, 
in  men,  and  in  God. 


236  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


OF  COMMUNION  WITH  GOD. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  A  SERMON  FROM  THE  TEXT  — 

The  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  with  you  all.  —  2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 

.  .  .  There  must  be  such  a  thing  as  communion  be- 
tween God  and  man.  I  mean,  defining  that  provision- 
ally, there  must  be  a  giving  on  God's  part,  and  a  taking 
on  man's  part.  To  state  the  matter  thus  is  to  make  it 
evident,  —  since  it  follows  from  the  nature  of  God  ;  for 
from  the  necessity  of  his  nature  the  Infinite  Being  must 
create  and  preserve  the  finite,  and  to  the  finite  must,  in 
its  forms,  give  and  communicate  of  his  own  kind.  It  is 
according  to  the  infinite  nature  of  God  to  do  so ;  as  ac- 
cording to  the  finite  nature  of  light  to  shine,  of  fire  to 
burn,  of  water  to  wet.  It  follows  as  well  from  the  na- 
ture of  man,  as  finite  and  derivative.  From  the  necessity 
of  his  nature,  he  must  receive  existence  and  the  means 
of  continuance.  He  must  get  all  his  primitive  power, 
which  he  starts  with,  and  all  his  materials  for  secondary 
and  automatic  growth,  from  the  primitive  and  infinite 
source.  The  mode  of  man's  finite  being  is  of  necessity 
a  receiving ;  of  God's  infinite  being,  of  necessity  a  giving. 
You  cannot  conceiv^e  of  any  finite  thing  existing  without 
God,  the  infinite  basis  and  ground  thereof ;  nor  of  God 
existing  without  something.  God  is  the  necessary  log- 
ical condition  of  a  world,  its  necessitating  cause ;  a 
world,  the  necessary  logical  condition  of  God,  his  ne- 
cessitated consequence.  Communion  between  the  two  is 
a  mutual  necessity  of  nature,  on  God's  part,  and  on 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  237 

man's  part.  I  mean  it  is  according  to  the  infinite  per- 
fection of  God's  nature  to  create,  and  so  objectify  him- 
self, and  then  preserve  and  bless  whatever  he  creates. 
So  by  his  nature  he  creates,  preserves,  and  gives.  And 
it  is  according  to  the  finite  nature  of  man  to  take.  So 
by  his  nature,  soon  as  created,  he  depends  and  receives, 
and  is  preserved  only  by  receiving  from  the  infinite 
source. 

That  is  the  conclusion  of  modern  metaphysical  sci- 
ence. The  stream  of  philosophy  runs  down  from  Aris- 
totle to  Hegel  and  Hickok,  and  breaks  off  with  this 
conclusion  ;  and  I  see  not  how  it  can  be  gainsaid.  The 
statements  are  apodictic,  self-evident  at  every  step. 

All  that  is  painfully  abstract ;  let  me  make  it  plainer 
if  I  can,  —  at  least  shoot  one  shaft  more  at  the  same 
mark  from  the  other  side.  You  start  with  yourself, 
with  nothing  but  yourself.  You  are  conscious  of  your- 
self ;  not  of  yourself  perhaps  as  substance,  surely  as 
power  to  be,  to  do,  to  suffer.  But  you  are  conscious  of 
yourself,  not  as  self-originated  at  all,  or  as  self-sustained 
alone  ;  only  as  dependent,  —  first  for  existence,  ever 
since  for  support. 

You  take  the  primary  ideas  of  consciousness  which 
are  inseparable  from  it,  the  atoms  of  self-consciousness ; 
amongst  them  you  find  the  ideas  of  God.  Carefully  ex- 
amined by  the  scrutinizing  intellect,  it  is  the  idea  of 
God  as  infinite, — perfectly  powerful,  wise,  just,  loving, 
holy,  —  absolute  being,  with  no  limitation.  It  is  this 
which  made  you,  made  all ;  sustains  you,  sustains  all ; 
made  your  body,  not  by  a  single  act,  but  by  a  series  of 
acts  extending  over  millions  of  years,  —  for  man's  body 
is  the  resultant  of  all  created  things ;  made  your  spirit, 
—  your  mind,  your  conscience,  your  affections,  your 
soul,  your  will ;  appointed  for  each  its  natural  mode  of 


238  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

action,  set  each  at  its  several  aim.  Self-consciousness 
leads  you  to  consciousness  of  God ;  at  last  to  conscious- 
ness of  infinite  God.  He  is  the  primitive,  whence  you 
are  the  derivative.  You  must  receive,  or  you  could  not 
be  a  finite  man ;  and  he  must  give,  or  he  could  not  be 
the  infinite  God.  Hence  the  communion  is  unavoidable, 
an  ontological  fact. 

God  must  be  omnipresent  in  space.  There  can  be  no 
mote  that  peoples  the  sunbeams,  no  spot  on  an  insect's 
wing,  no  little  cell  of  life  which  the  microscope  discovers 
in  the  seed-sporule  of  a  moss,  and  brings  to  light,  but 
God  is  there,  in  the  mote  that  peoples  the  sunbeams,  in 
that  spot  on  the  insect's  wing,  in  that  cell  of  life  the 
microscope  discovers  in  the  seed-sporule  of  a  moss. 

God  must  be  also  omnipresent  in  time.  There  is  no 
second  of  time  elapsing  now,  there  has  been  none  mil- 
lions of  years  ago,  before  the  oldest  stars  began  to  burn, 
but  God  was  in  that  second  of  time. 

Follow  the  eye  of  the  great  space-penetrating  tele- 
scope at  Cambridge  into  the  vast  halls  of  creation,  to  the 
furthest  nebulous  spot  seen  in  Orion's  belt,  —  a  spot 
whose  bigness  no  natural  mind  can  adequately  conceive, 
and  God  is  there.  Follow  the  eye  of  the  great  sharply 
defining  microscope  at  Berlin  into  some  corner  of  crea- 
tion, to  that  little  dot,  one  of  many  millions  that  people 
an  inch  of  stone,  once  animate  with  swarming  life,  a 
spot  too  small  for  mortal  mind  adequately  to  conceive, 
—  and  God  is  there. 

Get  you  a  mctaphysic  microscope  of  time  to  divide  a 
second  into  its  billionth  part  ;  God  is  in  that.  Get  you 
a  metaphysic  telescope  of  time,  to  go  back  in  millenni- 
ums as  the  glass  in  miles,  and  multiply  the  duration  of  a 
solar  system  by  itself  to  get  an  immensity  of  time  ; 
still,  God  is  there,  in  each  elapsing  second  of  that  mil- 


OF   COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  239 

lennial  stream  of  centuries,  —  liis  here  conterminous  with 
the  all  of  space,  his  now  coeval  with  the  all  of  time. 

Through  all  this  space,  in  all  this  time,  his  being  ex- 
tends, "  spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent ; "  God  in 
all  his  infinity,  —  perfectly  powerful,  perfectly  wise,  per- 
fectly just,  perfectly  loving  and  holy.  His  being  is  an 
infinite  activity,  a  creating,  and  so  a  giving  of  himself  to 
the  world.  The  world's  being  is  a  becoming,  a  being 
created  and  continued.  This  is  so  in  the  nebula  of 
Orion's  belt,  and  in  the  seed-sporule  of  the  smallest 
moss.  It  is  so  now,  and  was  the  same  millions  of  mil- 
lenniums ago. 

All  this  is  philosophy,  the  unavoidable  conclusion  of 
the  human  mind.  It  is  not  the  opinion  of  Coleridge  and 
Kant,  but  their  science  ;  not  what  they  guess,  but  what 
they  know. 

In  virtue  of  this  immanence  of  God  in  matter,  we  say 
the  world  is  a  revelation  of  God ;  its  existence  a  show  of 
his.  Some  good  books  picture  to  us  the  shows  of  things, 
and  report  in  print  the  Avhisper  of  God  which  men  have 
heard  in  the  material  world.  They  say  that  God  is  a 
good  optician,  —  for  the  eye  is  a  telescope  and  a  mi- 
croscope, the  two  in  one ;  that  he  is  a  good  chemist 
also,  ordering  all  things  "  by  measure  and  number  and 
weight ;  "  that  he  is  a  good  mechanic,  —  for  the  machin- 
ery of  i\\(i  world,  old  as  it  is,  is  yet  "  constructed  after 
the  most  approved  principles  of  modern  science."  All 
that  is  true,  but  the  finite  mechanic  is  not  in  his  work  ; 
he  wakes  it  and  then  withdraws.    God  is  in  his  work,  — 

"  As  full,  as  perfect  in  a  hair  as  heart  ; 

Acts  not  by  partial,  but  by  general  laws." 

All  nature  works  from  within ;  the  force  that  animates 
it  is  in  every  part.   It  was  objected  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton's 


240  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

philosoph}',  that  it  makes  the  world  all  mechanism, 
which  goes  without  external  help,  and  so  is  a  universe 
without  a  God,  —  men  thinking  that  he  could  not  work 
at  all  in  the  world-machine,  unless  they  saw  the  great 
hand  on  the  crank  now  and  then,  or  felt  the  jar  of  miracu- 
lous interposition  when  some  comet  swept  along  the  sky. 
The  objection  was  not  just,  for  the  manifold  action  of 
the  universe  is  only  the  infinite  God's  mode  of  opera- 
tion. Newton  merely  showed  the  mode  of  operation, — 
that  it  was  constant  and  wonderful,  not  changing  and 
miraculous  ;  and  so  described  a  higher  mode  of  opera- 
tion than  those  men  could  fathom,  or  even  reverence. 

These  things  being  so,  all  material  things  that  are 
must  needs  be  in  communion  with  God  ;  their  creation 
was  their  first  passive  act  of  communion ;  their  exist- 
ence, a  continual  act  of  communion.  As  God  is  infinite, 
nothing  can  be  without  him,  nothing  without  com- 
munion with  him.  The  stone  I  sit  on  is  in  communion 
with  God, —  the  pencil  I  write  with,  the  gray  field-fly 
reposing  in  the  sunshine  at  my  foot.  Let  God  withdraw 
from  the  space  occupied  by  the  stone,  the  pencil,  and  fly, 
they  cease  to  be ;  let  him  withdraw  any  quality  of  his  na- 
ture therefrom,  and  they  must  cease  to  be.  All  must  par- 
take of  him,  immanent  in  each  and  yet  transcending  all. 

In  this  communion  these  and  all  things  receive  after 
their  kind,  according  to  their  degree  of  being  and  the 
mode  thereof.  The  mineral,  the  vegetable,  and  the 
animal  represent  three  modes  of  being,  three  degrees  of 
existence ;  and  hence  so  many  modes  and  degrees  of  de- 
pendence on  God  and  of  communion  with  him.  They 
are,  they  grow,  they  move  and  live  in  him,  and  by  means 
of  him,  and  only  so.  But  none  of  these  are  conscious 
of  this  communion.  In  that  threefold  form  of  being 
there  is  no  consciousness  of  God ;  they  know  nothing  of 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  241 

their  dependence  and  their  communion.  The  water- 
fowl, in  the  long  pilgrimage  of  many  a  thousand  miles, 
knows  naught  of  Him  who  teaches  its  way 

"  Along  that  pathless  coast, 
The  desert  and  illimitable  air, 

Lone  wandering,  but  not  lost." 

To  i\\Q  dog,  man  stands  for  God  or  devil.  The  "  half- 
reasoning  elephant "  knows  nobody  and  is  conscious  of 
nothing  higher  than  his  keeper,  who  rides  upon  his  neck, 
pulling  his  ears  with  curved  hook.  All  these  are  igno- 
rant of  God. 

We  come  to  man.  Here  he  is,  a  body  and  a  spirit. 
The  vegetable  is  matter,  and  something  more  ;  the  animal 
is  vegetable  also,  and  something  more;  man  is  animal 
likewise,  and  something  more.  So  far  as  I  am  matter, 
a  vegetable,  an  animal,  —  and  I  am  each  in  part,  —  I 
have  tliQ  appropriate  communion  of  the  vegetable,  the 
mineral,  the  animal  world.  My  body,  this  hand,  for 
example,  is  subject  to  statical,  dynamical,  and  vital  laws. 
God  is  in  this  hand ;  without  his  infinite  existence,  its 
finite  existence  could  not  be.  It  is  a  hand  only  by  its 
unconscious  communion  with  him.  It  wills  nothing ; 
it  knows  nothing;  yet  all  day  long,  and  all  the  night, 
each  monad  thereof  retains  all  the  primary  statical  and 
dynamical  qualities  of  matter;  continually  the  blood 
runs  through  its  arteries  and  veins,  mysteriously  forming 
this  complicated  and  amazing  work.  Should  God  with- 
draw, it  were  a  hand  no  more  ;  the  blood  would  cease 
to  flow  in  vein  and  artery  ;  no  monad  would  retain  its 
primary  dynamical  and  static  powers ;  each  atom  would 
cease  to  be. 

All  these  things,  —  the  stone,  the  pencil,  and  the  fly, 
and  hand,  are  but  passive  and  unconscious  communicants 

16 


242  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

of  God ;  they  are  bare  pipes  alone  into  which  his  omni- 
potence flows.  Yes,  they  are  poor,  brute  things,  wliich 
know  him  not,  nor  cannot  ever  know.  The  stone  and 
pencil  know  not  themselves ;  this  marvellous  hand 
knows  naught ;  and  the  fly  never  says,  reasoning  with 
itself,  "  Lo,  here  am  I,  an  individual  and  a  conscious 
thing,  sucking  the  bosom  of  the  world."  It  never  sepa- 
rates the  Not-me  and  the  Me.  But  I  am  conscious ;  1 
know  myself,  and  through  myself  know  God.  I  am  a 
mind  to  think,  a  conscience  to  perceive  the  just  and 
right ;  I  am  a  heart  to  love,  a  soul  to  know  of  God. 
For  communion  with  my  God  I  have  other  faculties 
than  what  he  gives  to  stone  and  pencil,  hand  and  fly. 

Put  together  all  these  things  which  are  not  body,  and 
call  them  spirit :  this  spirit  as  a  whole  is  dependent  on 
God,  for  creation  first,  and  for  existence  ever  since ;  it 
lives  only  by  communion  with  him.  So  far  as  I  am  a 
body,  I  obviously  depend  on  God,  and  am  no  more  self- 
created  and  self-sufficing  than  the  pencil  or  the  fly.  So 
far  as  I  am  a  spirit,  I  depend  equally  on  him.  Should 
God  withdraw  himself  or  any  of  his  qualities  from  my 
mind,  I  could  not  think ;  from  conscience,  I  should  know 
nothing  of  the  right ;  from  the  heart,  there  could  be  no 
love ;  from  the  soul,  there  could  be  no  holiness,  no  faith 
in  him  that  made  it.  Thus  the  very  existence  of  the 
spirit  is  a  dependence  on  God,  and  so  far  a  communion 
with  him. 

I  cannot  wholly  separate  my  spirit  from  this  com- 
munion, for  that  would  be  destruction  of  the  spirit,  anni- 
hilation, which  is  in  no  man's  power.  Only  the  Infinite 
can  create  or  annihilate  an  atom  of  matter  or  a  monad  of 
spirit.  There  is  a  certain  amount  of  communion  of  the 
spirit  with  God,  which  is  not  conscious ;  that  lies  quite 
beyond  my  control.     I  "  break  into  the  bloody  house  of 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  243 

life,"  and  my  spirit  rushes  out  of  tlie  body ;  and  while 
the  static  and  dynamic  laws  of  nature  reassumc  their 
sway  over  my  material  husk,  rechanging  it  to  dust,  still 
I  am,  I  depend,  and  so  involuntarily  commune  with  God. 
Even  the  popular  theology  admits  this  truth,  for  it  teaches 
that  the  living  wicked  still  commune  with  God  through 
pain  and  wandering  and  many  a  loss ;  and  that  the 
wicked  dead  commune  with  him  through  hell  against 
their  will,  as  with  their  will  the  heavenly  saints  through 
heavenly  joy. 

I  cannot  end  this  communion  with  my  God ;  but  I 
can  increase  it,  greaten  it  largely,  if  I  will.  The  more  I 
live  my  higher  normal  life,  the  more  do  I  commune  with 
God.  If  I  live  only  as  mere  body,  I  have  only  corporeal 
and  unconscious  communion,  as  a  mineral,  a  vegetable, 
an  animal,  —  no  more.  As  children,  we  all  begin  as 
low  as  this.  The  child  unborn  or  newly  born  has  no 
self-consciousness,  —  knows  nothing  of  its  dependence, 
its  spontaneous  communion  with  its  God,  whereon  by 
laws  it  depends  for  being  and  continuance.  As  we 
outgrow  our  babyhood  we  are  conscious  of  ourselves, — 
distinguish  the  Me  and  the  Not-me,  and  learn  at  length 
of  God.. 

I  live  as  spirit,  I  have  spiritual  communion  with  God. 
Depend  on  him  I  must ;  when  I  become  self-conscious, 
I  feel  that  dependence,  and  know  of  this  communion, 
whereby  I  receive  from  him. 

The  quantity  of  my  receipt  is  largely  under  my  control. 
As  I  will,  I  can  have  less  or  morCt  I  cultivate  my 
mind,  greatening  its  quantity;  by  all  its  growth  I  have 
so  much  more  communion  with  my  Father ;  each  truth 
I  get  is  a  point  common  to  liim  and  me.  I  cultivate  my 
conscience,  increasing  my  moral  sense ;  each  atom  of 
justice  that  I  get  is  another  point  common  with  the 


244  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Deity.  So  I  cultivate  and  enlarge  my  affections ;  each 
grain  of  love  —  philanthropic  or  but  friendly  —  is  a  new- 
point  common  to  me  and  God.  Then,  too,  I  cultivate 
and  magnify  my  soul,  greatening  my  sense  of  holiness 
by  fidelity  to  all  my  nature ;  and  all  that  I  thus  acquire 
is  a  new  point  I  hold  in  common  with  the  Infinite.  I 
earnestly  desire  his  truth,  his  justice,  his  holiness  and 
love,  and  he  communicates  the  more.  Thus  I  have  a 
fourfold  voluntary  consciousness  of  God  through  my  mind 
and  conscience,  heart  and  soul ;  know  him  as  the  abso- 
lutely true  and  just  and  amiable  and  holy ;  and  thereby 
have  a  fourfold  voluntary  communion  with  my  God.  He 
gives  of  his  infinite  kind ;  I  receive  in  my  finite  mode, 
taking  according  to  my  capacity  to  receive. 

I  may  diminish  the  quantity  of  this  voluntary  com- 
munion. For  it  is  as  possible  to  stint  the  spirit  of  its 
God  as  to  starve  the  body  of  its  food ;  only  not  to  the 
final  degree,  —  to  destruction  of  the  spirit.  This  fact  is 
well  known.  You  would  not  say  that  Judas  had  so  much 
and  so  complete  communion  with  God  as  Jesus  had. 
And  if  Jesus  had  yielded  to  the  temptation  in  the  story, 
all  would  declare  that  for  the  time  he  must  diminish  the 
income  of  God  upon  his  soul.  For  unfaithfulness  in 
any  part  lessens  the  quantity  and  mars  the  quality  of 
our  communion  with  the  Infinite. 

In  most  various  ways  men  may  enlarge  the  power  to 
communicate  with  God ;  complete  and  normal  life  is  the 
universal  instrument  thereof.  Here  is  a  geologist  chip- 
ping the  stones,  or  studying  the  earthquake-waves;  here 
a  metaphysician  chipping  the  human  mind,  studying  its 
curious  laws,  —  psychology,  logic,  ontology ;  here  is  a 
merchant,  a  mechanic,  a  poet,  each  diligently  using  his 
intellectual  gift ;  and  as  they  acquire  the  power  to  think, 
by  so  much  more  do  they  hold  intellectual  communion 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  245 

with  the  thought  of  God, — their  finite  mind  communing 
with  the  Infinite.  My  active  power  of  understanding, 
imagination,  reason,  is  the  measure  of  my  intellectual 
communion  with  him. 

A  man  strives  to  know  the  everlasting  right,  to  keep 
a  conscience  void  of  all  offence ;  his  inward  eye  is  pure 
and  single ;  all  is  true  to  the  eternal  right.  His  moral 
powers  continually  expand,  and  by  so  much  more  does 
he  hold  communion  with  his  God.  As  far  as  it  can 
see,  his  finite  conscience  reads  in  the  book  the  eter- 
nal right  of  God.  A  man's  power  of  conscience  is  the 
measure  of  his  moral  communion  with  the  Infinite. 

I  repress  my  animal  self-love,  I  learn  to  be  well- 
tempered,  disinterested,  benevolent,  friendly  to  a  few, 
and  philanthropic  unto  all ;  my  heart  is  ten  times 
greater  than  ten  years  ago.  To  him  that  hath  shall 
be  given  according  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  what 
he  has,  and  I  communicate  with  God  so  much  the  more. 
The  greatness  of  my  heart  is  the  measure  of  my 
affectional  communion  with  him. 

I  cultivate  the  religious  faculty  within  me,  keeping 
my  soul  as  active  as  my  sense ;  I  quicken  my  conscious- 
ness of  the  dear  God ;  I  learn  to  reverence  and  trust 
and  love,  seeking  to  keep  his  every  rule  of  conduct  for 
my  sense  and  soul ;  I  make  my  soul  some  ten  times 
larger  than  it  was,  and  just  as  I  enhance  its  quantity 
and  quality,  so  much  the  more  do  I  religiously  commune 
with  God.  The  power  of  my  religious  sense  is  the  meas- 
ure of  my  communion  with  my  Father.  I  feed  on  this, 
and  all  the  more  I  take,  the  more  I  grow,  and  still  the 
more  I  need. 

In  all  this  there  is  nothing  miraculous,  nothing  myste- 
rious, nothing  strange.  From  his  mother's  breast  it  is 
the  laro;est  child  that  takes  the  most. 


246  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

At  first  a  man's  spiritual  communion  is  very  little,  is 
most  exceeding  small ;  but  in  normal  life  it  becomes 
more  and  more  continually.  Some  of  you,  grown  men, 
can  doubtless  remember  your  religious  experience  when 
you  were  children.  A  very  little  manna  was  food  enough 
for  your  baby-soul.  But  your  character  grew  more  and 
moi-e,  your  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  life  con- 
tinually became  greater  and  greater ;  when  you  needed 
much,  you  had  no  lack,  when  little,  there  seemed  noth- 
ing over.  Demand  and  supply  are  still  commensurate ; 
nothing  is  more  under  our  control  than  the  amount  of 
this  voluntary  communion  with  God. 

"Misfortunes,  do  the  best  we  can, 
Will  come  to  great  and  small." 

We  cannot  help  that,  but  we  can  progressively  enlarge 
the  amount  of  inspiration  we  receive  from  Heaven,  spite 
of  the  disappointments  and  sorrows  of  life,  —  nay,  by 
means  thereof. 

"  Thy  home  is  with  the  humble,  Lord! 
The  simple  are  thy  rest ; 
Thy  lodging  is  in  childlike  hearts, 
Thou  makest  there  thy  nest." 

Sometimes  a  man  makes  a  conscious  and  serious  effort 
to  receive  and  enlarge  this  communion.  He  looks  over 
his  daily  life ;  his  eye  runs  back  to  childhood,  and  takes 
in  all  the  main  facts  of  his  outward  and  inward  history. 
He  sees  much  to  mend,  something  also  to  approve.  Here 
he  erred  through  passion,  there  sinned  by  ambition ;  the 
desire  from  within  leagued  with  opportunity  from  with- 
out, making  temptation  too  strong  for  him.  He  is  peni- 
tent for  the  sin  that  was  voluntary,  or  for  the  heedlessness 
whereby  he  went  astray, —  sorrowful  at  his  defeat.  But 
he   remembers  the  manly  part  of   him,  and  with  new 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  247 

resolution  braces  himself  for  new  trials.  He  thinks  of 
the  powers  that  lie  unused  in  his  own  nature ;  he  looks 
out  at  the  examples  of  lofty  men  ;  his  soul  is  stirred  to  its 
deeper  depths.  A  new  image  of  beauty  rises  living  from 
that  troubled  sea,  and  the  ideal  of  human  loveliness  is 
folded  in  his  arms.  "  This  fair  ideal,"  says  he,  "  shall 
be  mine.  I  also  will  be  as  whole  and  beautiful.  Ah, 
me !  how  can  I  ever  get  such  lovely  life  ? "  Then  he 
thinks  of  the  eternal  wisdom,  the  eternal  justice,  the 
eternal  love,  the  eternal  holiness,  which  surrounds  him, 
and  now  fills  up  his  consciousness,  waiting  to  bless.  He 
reaches  out  his  arms  towards  that  infinite  Motherliness 
which  created  him  at  first  and  preserved  him  ever  since ; 
which  surpassed  when  he  fell  short,  furnishing  the  great 
plan  of  his  life  and  the  world's  life,  and  is  of  all  things 
perfect  cause  and  providence.  Then,  deeply  roused  in 
every  part,  he  communicates  with  the  infinite  mind  and 
conscience,  heart  and  soul.  He  is  made  calmer  by  the 
thought  of  the  immense  tranquillity  which  enfolds  the 
nervous  world  in  its  all-embracing,  silent  arms.  He  is 
comforted  by  the  motherly  aspect  of  that  infinite  eye, 
which  never  slumbers  in  its  watch  over  the  suffering  of 
each  great  and  every  little  thing,  converting  it  all  to 
good.  He  is  elevated  to  confidence  in  himself,  when  he 
feels  so  strong  in  the  never-ending  Love  which  makes, 
sustains,  and  guides  the  world  of  matter,  beasts,  and 
men  ;  makes  from  perfect  motives,  sustains  with  perfect 
providence,  and  guides  by  perfect  love  to  never-ending 
bliss.  Yea,  the  tranquillity,  pity,  love,  of  the  infinite 
Mother  enters  into  his  soul,  and  he  is  tranquil,  soothed, 
and  strong,  once  more.  He  has  held  communion  with 
his  God,  and  the  Divine  has  given  of  the  Deity's  own 
kind.  His  artistic  fancy  and  his  plastic  hand  have  found 
an  Apollo  in  that  pliant  human  block. 


248  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

That  is  a  prayer.  I  paint  the  process  out  in  words, — 
they  are  not  my  prayer  itself,  only  the  cradle  of  my 
blessed  heavenly  babe.  I  paint  it  not  in  words,  —  it  is 
still  my  prayer,  not  less  the  aspiration  of  my  upward- 
flying  soul.     I  carry  my  child  cradled  only  in  my  arms. 

I  have  this  experience  in  my  common  and  daily  life, 
with  no  unusual  grief  to  stir,  or  joy  to  quicken,  or  peni- 
tence to  sting  me  into  deep  emotion ;  then  my  prayer  is 
only  a  border  round  my  daily  life,  to  keep  the  web  from 
ravelling  away  through  constant  use  and  wear ;  or  else 
a  fringe  of  heaven,  whereby  I  beautify  niy  common  con- 
sciousness and  daily  work. 

But  there  strikes  for  me  a  greater  hour ;  some  new 
joy  binds  me  to  this,  or  puts  another  generation  into  my 
arms ;  another  heart  sheds  its  life  into  my  own ;  some 
great  sorrow  sends  me  in  upon  myself  and  God;  out  of 
the  flower  of  self-indulgence  the  bee  of  remorse  stings 
me  into  agony.  And  then  I  rise  from  out  my  common 
consciousness,  and  take  a  higher,  wider  flight  into  the 
vast  paradise  of  God,  and  come  back  laden  from  the 
new  and  honeyed  fields  wherein  I  have  a  newer  and 
fresher  life  and  sweeter  communings  with  loftier  loveli- 
ness than  I  had  known  before.  Thus  does  the  man 
that  will,  hold  commune  with  his  Father,  face  to  face, 
and  get  great  income  from  the  Soul  of  all. 

In  all  this  there  is  nothing  miraculous ;  there  has 
been  no  change  on  God's  part,  but  a  great  change  on 
man's.  We  have  received  what  he  is  universally  giving. 
So  in  winter  it  is  clear  and  cold,  the  winds  are  silent, 
clouds  gather  over  the  city's  face,  and  all  is  still.  How 
cold  it  is  !  In  a  few  hours  the  warmth  steals  out  from 
the  central  fire,  —  the  earth's  domestic, household  hearth  ; 
the  clouds  confine  it  in  those  airy  walls,  that  it  flee  not 
off,  nor  spread  to  boundless  space ;  the  frost  becomes 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  249 

the  less  intense,  and  men  are  gladdened  with  the  milder 
day.  So,  when  magnetic  bars  in  time  have  lost  their 
force,  men  hang  them  up  in  the  line  of  the  meridian, 
and  the  great  loadstone,  the  earth,  from  her  own  breast 
restores  their  faded  magnetism.  Thus  is  it  that  human 
souls  communicate  with  the  great  central  Fire  and  Light 
of  all  the  world,  the  Loadstone  of  the  universe,  and 
thus  recruit,  grow  young  again,  and  so  are  blessed  and 
strong. 

There  may  be  a  daily,  conscious  communion  with  God, 
marked  by  reverence,  gratitude,  aspiration,  trust,  and 
love ;  it  will  not  be  the  highest  prayer. 

"  'T  is  the  most  difficult  of  tasks  to  keep 
Heights  that  tlie  soul  is  competent  to  gain." 

And  the  highest  prayer  is  no  common  event  in  a  man's 
life.  Ecstasy,  rapture,  great  delight  in  prayer,  or  great 
increase  thereby,  —  they  are  the  rarest  things  in  the  life 
of  any  man.  They  should  be  rare.  The  tree  blossoms 
but  once  a  year ;  blooms  for  a  week,  and  then  fulfils  and 
matures  its  fruit  in  the  long  months  of  summer  and  of 
harvest-time,  —  fruit  for  a  season,  and  seed  for  many  an 
age.  The  sun  is  but  a  moment  at  meridian.  Jesus  had 
his  temptation  but  once,  but  once  his  agony,  —  the  two 
foci  round  which  his  beauteous  ellipse  was  drawn.  The 
intensest  consciousness  of  friendship  does  not  last  long. 
They  say  men  have  but  once  the  ecstasy  of  love  ;  human 
nature  could  not  bear  such  a  continual  strain.  So  all 
the  blossomings  of  rapture  must  needs  be  short.  The 
youthful  ecstasy  of  love  leads  man  and  maid  by  moon- 
light up  the  steep,  sheer  cliffs  of  life,  "while  all  below 
the  world  in  mist  lies  lost ; "  then,  in  the  daylight  of 
marriage  they  walk  serenely  on,  along  the  high  table- 
land of  mortal  life,  and  though  continually  greatening 


250  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

their  connubial  love   and  joy,  it   is  without  the  early 
ecstasy. 

Men  sometimes  seek  to  have  their  daily  prayer  high 
and  ecstatic  as  their  highest  hour  and  walk  with  God  ; 
it  cannot  be,  it  should  not  be.  Some  shut  themselves 
up  in  convents  to  make  religion  their  business,  all 
their  life,  —  to  make  an  act  of  prayer  their  only  act. 
They  always  fail ;  their  religion  dwindles  into  ritual 
service,  and  no  more ;  their  act  of  prayer  is  only  kneel- 
ing with  the  knees  and  talking  talk  with  windy  tongues. 
A  Methodist,  in  great  ecstasy  of  penitence  or  fear,  be- 
comes a  member  of  a  church.  He  all  at  once  is  filled 
with  rapturous  delight;  religious  joy  blossoms  in  his 
face  and  glitters  in  his  eye.  How  glad  is  the  converted 
man! 

"  Then  when  he  kneels  to  meditate, 

Sweet  thoughts  come  o'er  his  soul, 
Countless  and  bright  and  beautiful, 

Beyond  his  own  control." 

But  by  and  by  his  rapture  dies  away,  and  he  is  aston- 
ished that  he  has  no  such  ecstasy  as  before.  He  thinks 
that  he  has  "  fallen  from  grace,"  has  "  grieved  away  " 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  tries  by  artificial  excitement  to 
bring  back  what  will  not  come  without  a  new  occa- 
sion. Certain  religious  convictions  once  made  my 
heart  spring  in  my  bosom.  No  wit  is  not  so.  The  fresh 
leaping  of  the  heart  will  only  come  from  a  fresh  con- 
quest of  new  truth.  The  old  man  loves  his  wife  a 
thousand  times  better  than  when,  for  the  first  time, 
he  kissed  her  gracious  mouth  ;  but  his  heart  burns  no 
longer  as  when  he  first  saw  his  paradise  in  her  recipro- 
cating eye.  The  tree  of  religious  consciousness  is  not 
in  perpetual  blossom,  —  but  now  in  leaf,  now  flower, 
now  fruit. 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  251 

It  is  a  common  error  to  take  no  heed  of  this  vohmtary 
communion  with  God,  to  live  intent  on  business  or  on 
pleasure,  careful,  troubled  about  many  things,  and  sel- 
dom heed  the  one  thing  needed  most ;  to  take  that  as  it 
comes.  If  all  this  mortal  life  turned  out  just  as  we 
wished  it,  this  error  would  be  still  more  common  ;  only 
a  few  faculties  would  get  their  appropriate  discipline. 
Men  walking  only  on  a  smooth  and  level  road  use  the 
same  muscles  always,  and  march  like  mere  machines. 
But  disappointment  comes  on  us.  Sorrow  checks  our 
course,  and  we- are  forced  to  think  and  feel, — must 
march  now  up  hill,  and  then  down,  shifting  the  strain 
from  part  to  part.  In  mere  prosperity  most  men  are 
contented  to  enlarge  their  estate,  their  social  rank,  their 
daily  joy,  and  lift  their  children's  faces  to  the  vulgar 
level  of  the  vulgar  flood  whereon  their  fathers  float. 
There  comes  some  new  adventure  to  change  and  mend 
all  this.  Now  it  is  a  great  joy,  success  not  looked  for ; 
some  kindred  soul  is  made  one  with  us,  and  on  the  pin- 
ions of  instinctive  connubial  love  we  fly  upwards  and 
enlarge  our  intercourse  with  God,  —  the  object  of  passion 
a  communion  angel  to  lead  the  human  soul  to  a  higher 
seat  in  the  universe  and  a  more  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  Soul  of  all.  Sometimes  the  birth  of  a  new 
immortal  into  our  arms  does  this,  and  on  the  pinions  of 
instinctive  affection  men  soar  up  to  heaven  and  bring 
back  healing  on  their  wings,  —  the  object  of  affection 
the  communion  angel  to  convey  and  welcome  them  to 
heaven. 

Sometimes  it  is  none  of  these,  but  sorrow,  grief,  and 
disappointment,  that  do  this.  I  set  my  heart  upon  a 
special  thing ;  it  is  not  mine,  or  if  I  get  the  honor,  the 
money,  the  social  rank  I  sought,  it  was  one  thing  in  my 
eye,  and  another  in  my  grasp.     The  one  bird  which  I  saw 


252  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

in  the  bush  was  worth  ten  like  that  I  hold  in  my  hand. 
The  things  I  loved  are  gone,  —  the  maid,  the  lover,  hus- 
band, wife,  or  child ;  the  mortal  is  taken  from  longing 
arms.  The  heart  looks  up  for  what  can  never  die.  Then 
there  is  a  marriage  and  a  birth,,  not  into  your  arms,  but 
out  of  them  and  into  heaven;  and  the  sorrow  and  the  loss 
stir  you  to  woo  and  win  that  object  of  the  soul  which 
cannot  pass  away.  Your  sorrow  takes  you  on  her  wings, 
and  you  go  up  higher  than  before  ;  higher  than  your 
success,  higher  than  friendship's  daily  wing  ascends  ; 
higher  than  your  early  love  for  married  mate  had  ever 
borne  you  up ;  higher  than  the  delight  in  your  first-born 
child  or  latest  born.  You  have  a  new  communion  with 
your  Father,  and  get  a  great  amount  of  inspiration  from 
him. 

This  is  the  obvious  use  of  such  vicissitudes,  and  seems 
a  portion  of  their  final  cause.  In  the  artificial,  ecclesi- 
astical life  of  monasteries,  men  aim  to  reproduce  this 
part  of  nature's  discipline,  and  so  have  times  of  watching, 
fasting,  bodily  torture.  But  in  common  life  such  disci- 
pline asks  not  our  consent  to  come. 

As  I  look  over  your  faces  and  recall  the  personal  his- 
tory of  those  I  know,  I  see  how  universal  is  this  disap- 
pointment. But  it  has  not  made  you  more  melancholy 
and  less  manly  men ;  life  is  not  thereby  the  less  a  bless- 
ing, and  the  more  a  load.  With  no  sorrows  you  would 
be  more  sorrowful.  For  all  the  sorrows  that  man  has 
faithfully  contended  with,  he  shall  sail  into  port  deeper 
fraught  with  manliness.  The  wife  and  mother  at  thirty 
years  of  age  imprisoned  in  her  chair,  her  hands  all  impo- 
tent to  wipe  a  tear  away,  does  not  suffer  for  nothing. 
She  has  thereby  been  taught  to  taste  the  fruits  of  sweeter 
communion  with  her  God.  These  disappointments  are 
rounds  in  the  ladder  whereby  we  climb  to  heaven. 


OF   COMMUNION   WITH   GOD.  253 

In  cities  there  is  less  to  help  us  communicate  with  God 
than  in  the  fields.  Tliese  walls  of  brick  and  stone,  this 
artificial  ground  we  stand  on,  all  reminds  us  of  man  ; 
even  the  city  horse  is  a  machine.  But  in  the  country  it 
is  God's  ground  beneath  our  feet ;  God's  hills  on  every 
side ;  his  heaven,  broad,  blue,  and  boundless,  overhead  ; 
and  every  bush  and  every  tree,  the  morning  song  of 
earliest  birds,  the  chirp  of  insects  at  mid-day,  the  solemn 
stillness  of  the  night,  and  the  mysterious  hosts  of  stars 
that  all  night  long  climb  up  the  sky,  or  silently  go  down, 
—  these  continually  affect  the  soul,  and  cause  us  all  to 
feel  the  infinite  presence,  and  draw  near  to  that ;  and 
earth  seems  less  to  rest  in  space  than  in  the  love  of  God. 
So,  in  cities,  men  build  a  great  church,  —  at  London, 
Paris,  Venice,  or  at  Rome,  —  seeking  to  compensate  for 
lack  of  the  natural  admonitions  of  the  woods  and  sky  ; 
and,  to  replace  the  music  of  the  fields  and  nature's  art, 
enlist  the  painter's  plastic  hand,  and  the  musician's 
sweetest  skill. 

All  that  seek  religion  are  in  search  for  communion 
with  God.  What  is  there  between  him  and  thee  ?  Noth- 
ing but  thyself.  Each  can  have  what  inspiration  each 
will  take.  God  is  continually  giving ;  he  will  not  with- 
hold from  you  or  me.  As  much  ability  as  he  has  given, 
as  much  as  you  have  enlarged  your  talent  by  manly  use, 
so  much  will  he  fill  with  inspiration.  I  hold  up  my  little 
cup.  He  fills  it  full.  If  yours  is  greater,  rejoice  in  that, 
and  bring  it  faithfully  to  the  same  urn.  He  who  fills 
the  violet  with  beauty,  and  the  sun  with  light,  —  who 
gave  to  Homer  his  gift  of  song,  such  reason  to  Aristotle, 
and  to  Jesus  the  manly  gifts  of  justice  and  the  womanly 
grace  of  love  and  faith  in  him,  —  will  not  fail  to  inspire 
also  you  and  me.  Were  your  little  cup  to  become  as 
large  as  the  Pacific  sea,  he  still  would  fill  it  full. 


254  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  having  a  godly  heart,  a  desire 
to  conform  to  the  ideal  of  man  in  all  things,  and  to  be 
true  to  him  that  is  "  of  all  Creator  and  Defence."  He 
who  has  that  is  sure  of  conscious  spiritual  communion 
with  the  Father ;  sure  to  find  his  character  enlarging  in 
every  manly  part ;  sure  to  be  supplied  with  unexpected 
growth,  and  to  hold  more  of  the  divine  ;  sure  of  the  vol- 
untary inspiration  which  is  proper  to  the  self-conscious 
man. 

There  are  continual  means  of  help  even  for  men  who 
dwell  hedged  up  in  towns.  There  are  always  living 
voices  which  can  speak  to  us.  A  good  book  helps  one  ; 
this  feeds  his  soul  for  a  time  on  the  fair  words  of  David, 
Paul,  or  John,  Taylor,  A  Kcmpis,  Wordsworth,  Emerson ; 
that,  on  the  life  of  him  who  gives  a  name  to  Christendom. 
He  who  has  more  than  I  will  help  me ;  him  that  has 
less,  I  shall  help.  Some  men  love  certain  solemn  forms, 
as  aids  to  their  devotion ;  I  hope  that  they  are  helped 
thereby,  —  that  baptism  helps  the  sprinkler  or  the  wet; 
that  circumcision  aids  the  Jew,  and  sacrifice  the  heathen 
who  offers  it.  But  these  are  not  the  communion,  only 
at  most  its  vehicle.  Communion  is  the  meeting  of  the 
finite  and  the  infinite. 

If  a  man  have  a  truly  pious  soul,  then  his  whole  in- 
ward, outward  life,  will  at  length  become  religion ;  for 
the  disposition  to  be  true  to  God's  law  will  appear  the 
same  in  his  business  as  in  his  Sunday  vow.  His  whole 
work  will  be  an  act  of  faith,  he  will  grow  greater,  better, 
and  more  refined  by  common  life,  and  hold  higher  com- 
munion with  the  Ever-present ;  the  Sun  of  righteousness 
will  beautify  his  every  day. 

God  is  partial  to  no  one,  foreign  to  none.  Did  he  in- 
spire the  vast  soul  of  Moses,  —  the  tender  hearts  of  lowly 
saints  in  every  clime  and  every  age  ?    He  waits  to  come 


OF  COMMUNION   WITH  GOD.  255 

down  on  you  and  me,  a  continual  Pentecost  of  inspira- 
tion. Here  in  the  crowded  vulgar  town,  everywhere,  is 
a  Patmos,  a  Sinai,  a  Gethsemane  ;  the  infinite  Mother 
spreads  wide  her  arms  to  fold  us  to  that  universal  breast, 
ready  to  inspire  your  soul.  God's  world  of  truth  is  ready 
for  your  intellect ;  his  ocean  of  justice  waits  to  flow  in 
upon  your  conscience ;  and  all  his  heaven  of  love  broods 
continually  by  night  and  day  over  each  heart  and  every 
soul.  From  that  dear  bounty  shall  we  be  fed.  The 
motherly  love  invites  all,  —  as  much  communion  as  we 
will,  as  much  inspiration  as  our  gifts  and  faithfulness 
enable  us  to  take.  He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us. 
Shall  we  not  all  go  home, — the  prodigal  rejoice  with 
liim  that  never  went  astray  ?  Even  the  consciousness  of 
sin  brings  some  into  nearness  with  the  Father,  tired  of 
their  draff  and  husks ;  and  then  it  is  a  blessed  sin.  Sor- 
row also  brings  some,  and  then  it  is  a  blessed  grief ;  joy 
yet  others,  and  then  it  is  blessed  thrice.  In  this  place  is 
one  greater  than  the  temple,  greater  than  all  temples ; 
for  the  human  nature  of  the  lowliest  child  transcends 
all  human  history.  And  we  may  live  so  that  all  our  daily 
life  shall  be  a  continual  approach  and  mounting  up 
towards  God.  AVhat  is  the  noblest  life  ?  Nut  that  born 
in  the  most  famous  place,  acquiring  wealth  and  fame  and 
rank  and  power  over  matter  and  over  men  ;  but  that 
which,  faithful  to  itself  continually,  holds  communion 
with  the  Infinite,  and,  thence  receiving  of  God's  kind,  in 
mortal  life  displays  the  truth,  the  justice,  holiness,  and 
love  of  God. 

*'  0;,  blessed  be  our  trials  then, 
This  deep  in  which  we  lie  ; 
And  blessed  be  all  things  that  teach 
God's  dear  infinity." 


256  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


THE   RELATION"   OF  JESUS   TO   HIS   AGE   AND 
THE  AGES. 

Have  any  of  the  rulers,  or  of  the  Pharisees,  believed  on  him?  —  John  vii.  48. 

In  all  the  world  there  is  nothing  so  remarkable  as  a 
great  man  ;  nothing  so  rare,  nothing  which  so  well 
repays  study.  Human  nature  is  loyal  at  its  heart,  and 
is,  always  and  everywhere,  looking  for  this  its  true 
earthly  sovereign.  We  sometimes  say  that  our  institu- 
tions, here  in  America,  do  not  require  great  men ;  that 
we  get  along  better  without  than  with  such.  But  let  a 
real  great  man  light  on  our  quarter  of  the  planet,  let  us 
understand  him,  and  straightway  these  democratic  hearts 
of  ours  burn  with  admiration  and  with  love.  We  wave 
in  his  words,  like  corn  in  the  harvest  wind.  We  should 
rejoice  to  obey  him,  for  he  would  speak  what  we  need  to 
hear.  Men  are  always  half  expecting  such  a  man.  But 
when  he  comes,  —  the  real  great  man  that  God  has  been 
preparing, — men  are  disappointed;  they  do  not  recognize 
him.  He  does  not  enter  the  city  through  the  gates 
which  expectants  had  crowded.  He  is  a  fresh  fact,  brand 
new,  not  exactly  like  any  former  fact ;  therefore  men 
do  not  recognize  nor  acknowledge  him.  His  language  is 
strange,  and  his  form  unusual.  He  looks  revolutionary, 
and  pulls  down  ancient  walls  to  build  his  own  temple, 
or  at  least  splits  old  rocks  asunder,  and  quarries  anew 
fresh  granite  and  marble. 

There  are  two  classes  of  great  men.  Now  and  then 
some  arise  whom  all  acknowledge  to  be  great,  soon  as 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  257 

they  appear.  Such  men  have  what  is  true  in  relation 
to  the  wants  and  expectations  of  to-day.  They  say  what 
many  men  wished  but  had  not  words  for ;  they  transLate 
into  thought  what,  as  a  dim  sentiment,  lay  a  burning  in 
many  a  heart,  but  could  not  get  entirely  written  out  into 
consciousness.  These  men  find  a  welcome.  Nobody  mis- 
understands them.  The  world  follows  at  their  chariot- 
wheels,  and  flings  up  its  cap  and  shouts  its  huzzas ;  for 
the  world  is  loyal,  and  follows  its  king  when  it  sees  and 
knows  him.  The  good  part  of  the  world  follows  the 
highest  man  it  comprehends ;  the  bad,  whoever  serves 
its  turn. 

But  there  is  another  class  of  men  so  great  that  all 
cannot  see  their  greatness.  They  are  in  advance  of 
men's  conjectures,  higher  than  their  dreams,  too  good 
to  be  actual,  think  some.  Therefore,  say  many,  there 
must  be  some  mistake ;  tliis  man  is  not  so  great  as  he 
seems ;  nay,  he  is  no  great  man  at  all,  but  an  impostor. 
These  men  have  what  is  true,  not  merely  in  relation  to 
the  wants  and  expectations  of  men  here  and  to-day,  but 
what  is  true  in  relation  to  the  universe,  to  eternity,  to 
God.  They  do  not  speak  what  you  and  I  have  been 
trying  to  say,  and  cannot ;  but  what  we  shall  one  day, 
years  hence,  wish  to  say,  after  we  have  improved  and 
grown  up  to  man's  estate. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  the  men  of  this  latter  class,  when 
they  come,  can  never  meet  the  approbation  of  the  censors 
and  guides  of  public  opinion.  Such  as  wished  for  a  new 
great  man  had  a  superstition  of  the  last  one  in  their 
minds.  They  expected  the  new  to  be  just  like  the  old, 
but  he  is  altogether  unlike.  Nature  is  rich,  but  not 
rich  enough  to  waste  anything.  So  there  are  never  two 
great  men  very  strongly  similar.  Nay,  this  new  great 
man,  perhaps,  begins  by  destroying  much  that  the  old 

17 


258  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

one  built  up  with  tears  and  prayers.  He  shows,  at  first, 
the  limitations  and  defects  of  the  former  great  man ; 
calls  in  question  his  authority.  He  refuses  all  masters ; 
bows  not  to  tradition ;  and,  with  seeming  irreverence, 
laughs  in  the  face  of  the  popular  idols.  How  will  the 
"respectable  men,"  —  the  men  of  a  few  good  rules  and 
those  derived  from  their  fathers,  "  the  best  of  men  and 
the  wisest," — how  will  they  regard  this  new  great  man  ? 
They  will  see  nothing  remarkable  in  him  except  that  he  is 
fluent  and  superficial,  dangerous  and  revolutionary.  He 
disturbs  their  notions  of  order  ;  he  shows  that  the  institu- 
tions of  society  are  not  perfect ;  that  their  imperfections 
are  not  of  granite  or  marble,  but  only  of  words  written 
on  soft  wax,  which  may  be  erased  and  others  written 
thereon  anew.  He  shows  that  such  imperfect  institu- 
tions are  less  than  one  great  man.  The  guides  and 
censors  of  public  opinion  vrill  not  honor  such  a  man, 
they  will  hate  him.  Why  not  ?  Some  others,  not  half 
so  well  bred  nor  well  furnished  with  precedents,  wel- 
come the  new  great  man,  —  welcome  his  ideas,  welcome 
his  person.     They  say,  "  Behold  a  prophet !  " 

When  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary,  —  a  poor  woman,  wife 
of  Joseph  the  carpenter,  in  the  little  town  of  Nazareth, 
—  when  he  "  began  to  be  about  thirty  years  old,"  and 
began  also  to  open  his  mouth  in  the  synagogues  and 
the  highways,  nobody  thought  him  a  great  man  at  all, 
as  it  seems.  "  Who  are  you  ? "  said  the  guardians  of 
public  opinion.  He  found  men  expecting  a  great  man. 
This,  it  seems,  was  the  common  opinion,  that  a  great 
man  was  to  arise,  and  save  the  Church,  and  save  the 
State.  They  looked  back  to  Moses,  a  divine  man  of 
antiquity,  whose  great  life  had  passed  into  the  world, 
and  to  whom  men  had  done  honor  in  various  ways, — 
amongst  others,  by  telling  all  sorts  of  wonders  he  wrought, 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  259 

and  declaring  that  none  could  be  so  great  again ;  none  get 
so  near  to  God.  They  looked  back  also  to  the  prophets, 
a  long  line  of  divine  men,  so  they  reckoned,  but  less 
than  the  awful  Moses  ;  liis  stature  was  far  above  the 
nation,  who  hid  themselves  in  his  shadow.  Now,  the 
well-instructed  children  of  Abraham  thought  the  next 
great  man  must  be  only  a  copy  of  the  last,  repeat  his 
ideas,  and  work  in  the  old  fashion.  Sick  men  like  to  be 
healed  by  the  medicine  which  helped  them  the  last  time ; 
at  least,  by  the  customary  drugs  which  are  popular. 

In  Judea,  there  were  three  parties  of  men,  distinctly 
marked.  There  were  the  Conservatives  —  they  repre- 
sented the  church,  tradition,  ecclesiastical  or  theocratical 
authority.  They  adhered  to  the  words  of  the  old  books, 
the  forms  of  the  old  rites,  the  tradition  of  the  elders. 
"Nobody  but  a  3g\^  can  be  saved,"  said  they  ;  "he  only 
by  circumcision,  and  the  keeping  of  the  old  formal  law  ; 
God  likes  that,  he  accepts  nothing  else."  These  were 
the  Pharisees,  with  their  servants  the  Scribes.  Of  this 
class  were  the  priests  and  the  Levites  in  the  main,  the 
national  party,  the  native  Hebrew  party  of  that  time. 
They  had  tradition,  Moses,  and  the  prophets  ;  they  be- 
lieved in  tradition,  Moses,  and  the  prophets,  at  least  in 
public  ;  what  they  believed  in  private  God  knew,  and  so 
did  they.     I  know  nothing  of  that. 

Then  there  was  the  indifferent  party,  —  the  Sadducees, 
the  State.  They  had  wealth,  and  they  believed  in  it, 
both  in  public  and  private  too.  They  had  a  more  gen- 
erous and  extensive  cultivation  than  the  Pharisees. 
They  had  intercourse  with  foreigners,  and  understood 
the  writers  of  Ionia  and  Athens  which  the  Pharisee  held 
in  abhorrence.  These  were  sleek,  respectable  men,  who, 
in  part,  disbelieved  the  Jewish  theology.  It  is  no  very 
great  merit  to  disbelieve  even  in  the  devil,  unless  you 


260  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

have  a  positive  faith  in  God  to  take  up  your  affections. 
The  Sadducee  believed  neither  in  angel  nor  resurrec- 
tion,—  not  at  all  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  He 
believed  in  the  State,  in  the  laws,  the  constables,  the 
prisons,  and  the  axe.  In  religious  matters  it  seems 
the  Pharisee  had  a  positive  belief,  only  it  was  a  positive 
belief  in  a  great  mistake.  In  religious  matters  the 
Sadducee  had  no  positive  belief  at  all,  — not  even  in  an 
error ;  at  least,  some  think  so.  His  distinctive  affirma- 
tion was  but  a  denial.  He  believed  what  he  saw  with 
his  eyes,  touched  with  his  fingers,  tasted  with  his  tongue. 
He  never  saw,  felt,  nor  tasted  immortal  life ;  he  had  no 
belief  therein.  There  was  once  a  heathen  Sadducee  who 
said,  "  My  right  arm  is  my  God  !  " 

There  was  likewise  a  party  of  come-outers.  They 
despaired  of  the  State,  and  the  Church  too,  and  turned 
off  into  the  wilderness,  "  where  the  wild  asses  quench 
their  thirst,"  building  up  their  organizations  free,  as 
they  hoped,  from  all  ancient  tyrannies.  The  Bible  says 
nothing  directly  of  these  men  in  its  canonical  books.  It 
is  a  curious  omission  ;  but  two  Jews,  each  acquainted 
with  foreign  writers,  Josephus  and  Philo,  give  an  account 
of  these.  These  were  the  Essenes,  an  ascetic  sect,  hostile 
to  marriage,  at  least  many  of  them,  who  lived  in  a  sort 
of  association  by  themselves,  and  had  all  things  in 
common. 

The  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  had  no  great  living 
and  ruling  ideas,  —  none  I  mean  which  represented  man, 
his  hopes,  wishes,  affections,  his  aspirations,  and  power 
of  progress.  That  is  no  very  rare  case,  perhaps  you 
will  say,  for  a  party  in  the  Church  or  the  State  to  have 
no  such  ideas,  but  they  had  not  even  a  plausible  sub- 
stitute for  such  ideas.  They  seemed  to  have  no  faith  in 
man,  —  in  his  divine  nature,  his  power  of  improvement. 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  261 

The  Essenes  had  ideas  ;  had  a  positive  belief  ;  had  faith 
ill  man  ;  but  it  was  weakened  in  a  great  measure  l)y  their 
machinery.  They,  like  the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees, 
were  imprisoned  in  their  organization,  and  probably  saw 
no  good  out  of  their  own  party  lines. 

It  is  a  plain  thing  that  no  one  of  these  three  parties 
would  accept,  acknowledge,  or  even  perceive  the  great- 
ness of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  His  ideas  were  not  their 
notions.  He  was  not  the  man  they  were  looking  for ; 
not  at  all  the  Messiah,  the  anointed  one  of  God,  which 
they  wanted.  The  Sadducee  expected  no  new  great  man 
unless  it  was  a  Roman  quJEstor  or  procurator ;  the  Phar- 
isees looked  for  a  Pharisee  stricter  than  Gamaliel ;  the 
Essenes  for  an  Ascetic.  It  is  so  now.  Some  seem  to 
think  that  if  Jesus  were  to  come  back  to  the  earth,  he 
would  preach  Unitarian  sermons,  from  a  text  out  of  the 
Bible,  and  prove  his  divine  mission  and  the  everlasting 
truths, —  the  truths  of  necessity  that  he  taught,  —  in  the 
Unitarian  way,  by  telling  of  the  miracles  he  wrought 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago ;  that  he  would  prove  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  by  the  fact  of  his  own  corporeal 
resurrection.  Others  seem  to  think  that  he  would  de- 
liver homilies  of  a  severer  character ;  would  rate  men 
roundly  about  total  depravity,  and  tell  of  unconditional 
election,  salvation  without  works,  and  imputed  right- 
eousness, and  talk  of  hell  till  the  women  and  children 
fainted,  and  the  knees  of  men  smote  together  for  trem- 
bling.    Perhaps  both  would  be  mistaken. 

So  it  was  then.  All  these  three  classes  of  men,  im- 
prisoned in  their  prejudices  and  superstitions  were  hos- 
tile. The  Pharisees  said,  "  We  know  that  God  spake 
unto  Moses  ;  but  as  for  this  fellow,  we  know  not  whence 
he  is.  He  blasphemeth  Moses  and  the  prophets  ;  yea, 
he  hath  a  devil,  and  is  mad,  why  hear  him  ? "     The  Sad- 


262  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

ducees  complained  that  "  he  stirred  up  the  people  ; "  so 
he  did.  The  Essenes,  no  doubt,  would  have  it  that  he 
was  "a  gluttonous  man  and  a  wine-bibber,  a  friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners."  Tried  by  these  three  standards, 
the  judgment  was  true ;  what  could  he  do  to  please 
these  three  parties  ?  Nothing,  —  nothing  that  he  would 
do.  So  they  hated  him  ;  all  hated  him,  and  sought  to 
destroy  him.  The  cause  is  plain.  He  was  so  deep  they 
could  not  see  his  profoundness ;  too  high  for  their  com- 
prehension ;  too  far  before  them  for  their  sympathy. 
He  was  not  the  great  man  of  the  day.  He  found  all 
organizations  against  him,  —  Church  and  State.  Even 
John  the  Baptist,  a  real  prophet,  but  not  the  prophet, 
doubted  if  Jesus  was  the  one  to  be  followed.  If  Jesus 
had  spoken  for  the  Pharisees,  they  would  have  accepted 
his  speech  and  the  speaker  too.  Had  he  favored  the 
Sadducees,  he  had  been  a  great  man  in  their  camp,  and 
Herod  would  gladly  have  poured  wine  for  the  eloquent 
Galilean,  and  have  satisfied  the  carpenter's  son  with 
purple  and  fine  linen.  Had  he  praised  the  Essenes, 
uttering  their  Shibboleth,  they  also  would  have  paid 
him  his  price,  have  made  him  the  head  of  their  associa- 
tion perhaps,  —  at  least,  have  honored  him  in  their  way. 
He  spoke  for  none  of  these.  Why  should  they  honor  or 
even  tolerate  him  ?  It  were  strange  had  they  done  so. 
Was  it  through  any  fault  or  deficiency  of  Jesus  that 
these  men  refused  him  ?  Quite  the  reverse.  The  rain 
falls  and  the  sun  shines  on  the  evil  and  the  good ;  the 
work  of  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  is  before 
all  men,  revealing  the  invisible  things  ;  yet  the  fool  hath 
said,  ay,  said  in  his  heart,  "  There  is  no  God  !  " 

Jesus  spoke  not  for  the  prejudices  of  such,  and  there- 
fore they  rejected  him.  But  as  he  spoke  truths  for  man, 
truths   from    God,   truths  adapted  to   man's   condition 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  263 

there,  to  man's  condition  everywhere  and  always,  when 
the  Pharisees,  the  Sadducees,  the  Essenes  went  away, 
their  lips  curling  with  scorn,  when  they  gnashed  on  one 
another  with  their  teeth,  there  were  noble  men  and 
humble  women  who  had  long  awaited  the  consolation 
of  Israel,  and  they  heard  him,  heard  him  gladly.  Yes, 
they  left  all  to  follow  him.  Him  ?  no,  it  was  not  him 
they  followed  ;  it  w^as  God  in  him  they  obeyed,  the  God 
of  truth,  the  God  of  love. 

There  were  men  not  counted  in  the  organized  sects, 
—  men  weary  of  absurdities,  thirsting  for  the  truth,  sick, 
they  knew  not  why  nor  of  what,  yet  none  the  less  sick, 
and  waiting  for  the  angel  who  should  heal  them,  though 
by  troubled  waters  and  remedies  unknown.  These  men 
had  not  the  prejudices  of  a  straitly  organized  and  nar- 
row sect.  Perhaps  they  had  not  its  knowledge,  or  its 
good  manners.  They  were  "  unlearned  and  ignorant 
men,"  those  early  followers  of  Christ.  Nay,  Jesus  him- 
self had  no  extraordinary  culture,  as  the  world  judges 
of  such  things.  His  townsmen  wondered,  on  a  famous 
occasion,  how  he  had  learned  to  read.  He  knew  little  of 
theologies,  it  would  seem  ;  the  better  for  him,  perhaps. 
No  doubt  the  better  for  us  that  he  insisted  on  none.  He 
knew  they  were  not  religion.  The  men  of  Galilee  did 
not  need  theology.  The  youngest  scribe  in  the  hum- 
blest theological  school  at  Jerusalem,  if  such  a  thing 
were  in  those  days,  could  have  furnished  theology  enough 
to  believe  in  a  lifetime.  They  did  need  religion ;  they 
did  see  it  as  Jesus  unfolded  its  loveliness  ;  they  did  wel- 
come it  when  they  saw ;  welcome  it  in  their  hearts. 

If  I  were  a  poet,  as  some  are  born,  and  skilled  to  paint 
with  words  what  shall  stand  out  as  real,  to  live  before 
the  eye,  and  then  dwell  in  the  affectionate  memory  for- 
ever, I  would  tell  of  the  audience  which  heard  the  Sermon 


264  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

on  the  Mount,  which  hstened  to  the  parables,  the  rebukes, 
the  beautiful  beatitudes.  They  were  plain  men,  and 
humble  women ;  many  of  them  foolish  like  you  and  me ; 
^some  of  them  sinners.  But  they  all  had  hearts,  had 
souls,  —  all  of  them,  —  hearts  made  to  love,  souls  expec- 
tant of  truth.  When  he  spoke,  some  said,  no  doubt, 
"  That  is  a  new  thing,  tliat  the  true  worshipper  shall 
worship  in  spirit  and  iri  truth,  as  well  here  as  in  Jerusa- 
lem, now  as  well  as  any  time  ;  that  also  is  a  hard  saying, 
Love  your  enemies ;  forgive  them,  though  seventy  times 
seven  times  they  smite  and  offend  you,  —  that  notion  that 
the  law  and  the  prophets  are  contained,  all  that  is  essen- 
tially religious  thereof,  in  one  precept.  Love  men  as  your- 
self, and  God  with  all  your  might.  This  differs  a  good 
deal  from  the  Pharisaic  orthodoxy  of  the  synagogue. 
That  is  a  bold  thing,  presumptuous  and  revolutionary,  to 
say,  —  I  am  greater  than  the  temple,  wiser  than  Solomon, 
a  better  symbol  of  God  than  both."  But  there  Avas 
something  deeper  than  Jewish  orthodoxy  in  their  heart, 
something  that  Jewish  orthodoxy  could  not  satisfy;  and 
what  was  yet  more  troublesome  to  ecclesiastical  guides, 
something  that  Jewish  orthodoxy  could  not  keep  down, 
nor  even  cover  up.  Sinners  were  converted  at  his  re- 
proof. They  felt  he  rebuked  whom  he  loved.  Yet  his 
pictures  of  sin,  and  sinners  too,  were  anything  but  flat- 
tering. Tliere  was  small  comfort  in  them.  Still  it  was 
not  the  publicans  and  harlots  who  laid  their  hands  on 
the  place  where  their  hearts  should  be,  saying,  "  You 
hurt  our  feelings,"  and  "  We  can't  bear  you  ! "  Nay, 
they  pondered  his  words,  repenting  in  tears.  He  showed 
them  their  sin ;  its  cause,  its  consequence,  its  cure.  To 
them  he  came  as  a  Saviour,  and  they  said,  "  Thou  art 
well-come,"  —  those  penitent  Magdalenes  weeping  at  his 
feet. 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  265 

It  \roiild  be  curious  could  we  know  the  mingled  emo- 
tions that  swayed  the  crowd  which  rolled  up  around 
Jesus,  following  him,  as  the  tides  obey  the  moon,  where- 
ever  he  went ;  curious  to  see  how  faces  looked  doubtful 
at  first  as  he  began  to  speak,  at  Tabor  or  Gennesareth, 
Capernaum  or  Gischala,  then  how  the  countenance  of 
some  lowered  and  grew  black  with  thunder  suppressed 
but  cherished,  while  the  face  of  others  shone  as  a  branch 
of  stars  seen  through  some  disparted  cloud  in  a  night  of 
fitful  storms,  a  moment  seen  and  then  withdrawn.  It 
were  curious  to  see  how  gradually  many  discordant  feel- 
ings, passion,  prejudice,  and  pride,  were  hushed  before 
the  tide  of  melodious  religion  he  poured  out  around  him, 
baptizing  anew  saint  and  sinner,  and  old  and  young, 
into  one  brotherhood  of  a  common  soul,  into  one  immor- 
tal service  of  the  universal  God ;  to  see  how  this  young 
Hebrew  maid,  deep-hearted,  sensitive,  enthusiastic,  self- 
renouncing,  intuitive  of  heavenly  truth,  rich  as  a  young 
vine,  with  clustei'ing  affections  just  purpling  into  ripe- 
ness,—  how  she  seized,  first  and  all  at  once,  the  fair 
ideal,  and  with  generous  bosom  confidingly  embraced  it 
too ;  how  that  old  man,  gray-bearded,  with  baldness  on 
his  head,  full  of  precepts  and  precedents,  the  lore  of  his 
fathers,  the  experience  of  a  hard  life,  logical,  slow,  cal- 
culating, distrustful,  remembering  much  and  fearing 
much,  but  hoping  a  little,  confiding  only  in  the  fixed, 
his  reverence  for  the  old  deepening  as  he  himself  be- 
came of  less  use,  —  to  see  how  he  received  the  glad  in- 
spirations of  the  joiner's  son,  and  wondering  felt  his 
youth  steal  slowly  back  upon  his  heart,  reviving  aspira- 
tions long  ago  forgot,  and  then  the  crimson  tide  of  early 
hope  come  gushing,  tingling  on  through  every  limb ;  to 
see  how  the  young  man  halting  between  principle  and 
passion,  not  yet  petrified  into  worldliness,  but  struggling, 


266  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

uncertain,  half  reluctant,  with  those  two  serpents.  Cus- 
tom and  Desire,  that  beautifully  twined  about  his  arms 
and  breast  and  neck  their  wormy  folds,  concealing  under- 
neath their  burnished  scales  the  dragon's  awful  strength, 
the  viper's  poison  fang,  —  the  poor  youth  caressing  their 
snaky  crests,  and  toying  with  their  tongues  of  flame,  — 
to  see  how  he  slowly,  reluctantly,  amid  great  question- 
ings of  heart,  drank  in  the  words  of  truth,  and  then, 
obedient  to  the  angel  in  his  heart,  shook  off,  as  ropes  of 
sand,  that  hideous  coil,  and  trod  the  serpents  underneath 
his  feet.  All  this,  it  were  curious,  ay,  instructive  too, 
could  we  but  see. 

They  heard  him  with  welcome  various  as  their  life. 
The  old  men  said,  "  It  is  Moses  or  Elias  ;  it  is  Jeremiah, 
one  of  the  old  prophets  arisen  from  the  dead,  for  God 
makes  none  such,  now-a-days,  in  the  sterile  dotage  of 
mankind."  The  young  men  and  maidens  doubtless  it 
was  that  said,  "This  is  the  Christ;  the  desire  of  the 
nations  ;  the  hope  of  the  world,  the  great  new  prophet ; 
the  Son  of  David  ;  the  Son  of  man  ;  yes,  the  son  of  God. 
He  shall  be  our  king."  Human  nature  is  loyal,  and 
follows  its  king  soon  as  it  knows  him.  Poor  lost  sheep ! 
the  children  of  men  look  always  for  their  guide,  though 
so  often  they  look  in  vain. 

How  he  spoke,  words  deep  and  piercing ;  rebukes  for 
the  wicked,  doubly  rebuking,  because  felt  to  have  come 
out  from  a  great,  deep,  loving  heart.  His  first  word 
was,  perhaps,  "  Repent,"  but  with  the  assurance  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  was  here  and  now,  within  reach  of  all. 
How  his  doctrines,  those  great  truths  of  nature,  com- 
mended themselves  to  the  heart  of  each,  of  all  simple- 
souled  men  looking  for  the  truth !  He  spoke  out  of  his 
experience ;  of  course  into  theirs.  He  spoke  great  doc- 
trines, truths  vast  as  the  soul,  eternal  as  God,  winged 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  267 

with  beauty  from  the  loveliness  of  his  own  life.  Had 
he  spoken  for  the  Jews  alone,  his  words  had  perished 
with  that  people ;  for  that  time  barely,  the  echo  of  his 
name  had  died  away  in  his  native  hamlet ;  for  the  Phari- 
sees, the  Sadducees,  the  Essenes,  you  and  I  had  heard 
of  him  but  as  a  Rabbi,  —  nay,  had  never  been  blest  by 
him  at  all.  Words  for  a  nation,  an  age,  a  sect,  are  of 
use  in  their  place,  yet  they  soon  come  to  nought.  But 
as  he  jpoke  for  etei-nity,  his  truths  ride  on  the  wings  of 
time ;  as  he  spoke  for  man,  they  are  welcome,  beautiful, 
and  blessing,  wherever  man  is  found,  and  so  must  be 
till  man  and  time  shall  cease. 

He  looked  not  back,  as  the  Pharisee,  save  for  illustra- 
tions and  examples.  He  looked  forward  for  his  direction. 
He  looked  around  for  his  work.  There  it  lay,  the  harvest 
plenteous,  the  laborers  few.  It  is  always  so.  He  looked 
not  to  men  for  his  idea,  his  word  to  speak ;  as  little  for 
their  applause.  He  looked  in  to  God,  for  guidance,  wis- 
dom, strength ;  and  as  water  in  the  wilderness,  at  the 
stroke  of  Moses,  in  the  Hebrew  legend,  so  inspiration 
came  at  his  call,  —  a  mighty  stream  of  truth  for  the 
nation,  faint,  feeble,  afraid,  and  wandering  for  the 
promised  land ;  drink  for  the  thirsty,  and  cleansing  for 
the  unclean. 

But  he  met  opposition,  —  oh  yes,  enough  of  it.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  It  must  be  so.  The  very  soul 
of  peace,  he  brought  a  sword.  His  word  was  a  consum- 
ing fire.  The  Pharisees  wanted  to  be  applauded,  com- 
mended ;  to  have  their  sect,  their  plans,  their  traditions 
praised  and  flattered.  His  word  to  them  was  "  Repent ; " 
of  them,  to  the  people,  "  Such  righteousness  admits  no 
man  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  they  are  a  deceitful 
prophecy,  blind  guides,  hypocrites  ;  not  sons  of  Abraham, 
but  children  of  the  devil."     They  could  not  bear  him. 


268  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

No  wonder  at  it ;  he  was  the  aggressor,  —  had  carried 
the  war  into  the  very  heart  of  their  system.  They 
turned  out  of  their  company  a  man  whose  blindness  he 
healed,  because  he  confessed  that  fact.  They  made  a 
law  that  all  who  believed  on  him  should  also  be  cast 
out.  Well  they  might  hate  him,  those  old  Pharisees. 
His  existence  was  their  reproach ;  his  preaching  their 
trial ;  his  life  with  its  outward  goodness,  his  piety  within, 
was  their  condemnation.  The  man  was  their  ruin,  and 
they  knew  it.  The  cunning  can  see  their  own  danger, 
but  it  is  only  men  wise  in  mind,  or  men  simple  of  heart, 
that  can  see  their  real,  permanent  safety  and  defence, 

—  never  the  cunning,  neither  then,  neither  now. 
Jesus  looked  to  God  for  his  truth,  his  great  doctrines, 

—  not  his  own,  private,  personal,  depending  on  his  idio- 
syncrasies, and  therefore  only  subjectively  true,  but 
God's,  universal,  everlasting,  the  absolute  religion.  I  do 
not  know  that  he  did  not  teach  some  errors  also,  along 
with  it.  I  care  not  if  he  did.  It  is  by  his  truths  that  I 
know  him,  the  absolute  religion  he  taught  and  lived,  —  by 
his  highest  sentiments  that  he  is  to  be  appreciated.  He 
had  faith  in  God,  and  obeyed  God ;  hence  his  inspira- 
tion, great  in  proportion  to  the  greater  endowment, 
moral  and  religious,  which  God  gave  him,  great  like- 
wise in  proportion  to  his  perfect  obedience.  He  had 
faith  in  man  none  the  less.  Who  ever  yet  had  faith  in 
God  that  had  none  in  man  ?  I  know  not.  Surely  no 
inspired  prophet.  As  Jesus  had  faith  in  man,  so  he 
spoke  to  men.  Never  yet,  in  the  wide  world,  did  a 
prophet  arise,  appealing  with  a  noble  heart  and  a  noble 
life  to  the  soul  of  goodness  in  man,  but  that  soul  an- 
swered to  the  call.  It  was  so  most  eminently  with  Jesus. 
The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  could  not  understand  by  what 
authority  he  taught.     Poor  Pharisees !  how  could  they  ? 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  269 

His  ph3'lacteries  were  no  broader  than  those  of  another 
man ;  nay,  perhaps  he  had  no  phylacteries  at  all,  nor 
even  a  broad-bordered  garment.  Men  did  not  salute 
him  in  the  market-place,  sandals  in  hand,  with  their 
"  Rabbi !  Rabbi ! "  Could  such  men  understand  by  what 
authority  he  taught  ?  no  more  than  they  dared  answer 
his  questions.  They  that  knew  him  felt  he  had  author-  // 
ity  quite  other  than  that  claimed  by  the  Scribes ;  the 
authority  of  true  words,  the  authority  of  a  noble  life ; 
yes,  authority  which  God  gives  a  great  moral  and  reli- 
gious man.  God  delegates  authority  to  men  just  in  ' 
proportion  to  their  power  of  truth,  and  their  power  of 
goodness,  —  to  their  being  and  their  life.  So  God  spoke 
in  Jesus,  as  he  taught  the  perfect  religion,  anticipated, 
developed,  but  never  yet  transcended. 

This,  then,  was  the  relation  of  Jesus  to  his  age ;  the 
sectarians  cursed  him,  cursed  him  by  their  gods,  rejected 
him,  abused  him,  persecuted  him,  sought  his  life.  Yes, 
they  condemned  him  in  the  name  of  God.  All  evil,  says 
the  proverb,  begins  in  that  name  ;  much  continues  to 
claim  it.  The  religionists,  the  sects,  the  sectarian 
leaders,  rejected  him,  condemned  and  slew  him  at  the 
last,  hanging  his  body  on  a  tree.  Poor  priests  of  the  ^ 
people,  they  hoped  thereby  to  stifle  that  awful  soul ! 
They  only  stilled  the  body  ;  that  soul  spoke  with  a  thou- 
sand tongues.  So,  in  the  times  of  old,  when  the  Satur- 
nian  day  began  to  dawn,  it  might  be  fabled  that  the  old 
Titanic  race,  lovers  of  darkness  and  haters  of  the  light, 
essayed  to  bar  the  rising  morning  from  the  world,  and 
so  heaped  Pelion  upon  Ossa,  and  Olympus  on  Pclion  ; 
but  first  the  day  sent  up  his  crimson  flush  upon  the 
cloud,  and  then  his  saffron  tinge,  and  next  the  sun  came 
peering  o'er  the  loftiest  height,  magnificently  fair,  —  and 
down  the  mountain's  slanting  ridge  poured  the  intolerable 


270  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

day ;  meanwhile  those  triple  hills,  laboriously  piled,  came 
toppling,  tumbling  down,  with  lumbering  crush,  and 
underneath  their  ruin  hid  the  helpless  giants'  grave. 
So  was  it  with  men  who  sat  in  Moses'  seat.  But  this 
people,  that  "  knew  not  the  law,"  and  were  counted 
therefore  accursed,  they  welcomed  Jesus  as  they  never 
welcomed  the  Pharisee,  the  Sadducee,  or  the  Scribe. 
Ay,  hence  were  their  tears.  The  hierarchical  fire  burnt 
not  so  bright  contrasted  with  the  sun.  That  people  had 
a  Simon  Peter,  a  James,  and  a  John,  men  not  free  from 
faults,  no  doubt,  the  record  shows  it,  but  with  hearts  in 
their  bosoms,  which  could  be  kindled,  and  then  could 
light  other  hearts.  Better  still,  there  were  Marthas 
and  Marys  among  that  people  who  "  knew  not  the  law  " 
and  were  cursed.  They  were  the  mothers  of  many  a 
church. 

The  character  of  Jesus  has  not  changed,  his  doctrines 
are  still  the  same  ;  but  what  a  change  in  his  relation  to 
the  age,  nay  to  the  ages.  The  stone  that  the  builders  re- 
jected is  indeed  become  the  head  of  the  corner,  and  its 
foundation  too.  He  is  worshipped  as  a  God.  That  is 
the  rank  assigned  him  by  all  but  a  fraction  of  the  Chris- 
tian world.  It  is  no  wonder.  Good  men  worship  the 
best  thing  they  know,  and  call  it  God.  What  was  taught 
to  the  mass  of  men,  in  those  days,  better  than  the  char- 
acter of  Christ  ?  Should  they  rather  worship  the  Grecian 
Jove,  or  the  Jehovah  of  the  Jews  ?  To  me  it  seems  the 
moral  attainment  of  Jesus  was  above  the  hierarchical 
conception  of  God,  as  taught  at  Athens,  Rome,  Jerusalem. 
Jesus  was  the  prince  of  peace,  the  king  of  truth,  praying 
for  his  enemies,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do ! "  The  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  awful  and  stern,  a  man  of  war,  hating  the  wicked. 
The  sacerdotal  conception  of  God  at  Rome  and  Athens 


JESUS  AND  HIS  AGE.  271 

was  lower  yet.  No  wonder,  then,  that  men  soon  learned 
to  honor  Jesus  as  a  God,  and  then  as  God  himself.  Apos- 
tolical and  other  legends  tell  of  his  divine  birth,  his  won- 
drous poAver  tliat  healed  the  sick,  palsied  and  crippled, 
deaf  and  dumb  and  blind,  created  bread,  turned  water  into 
wine,  and  bid  obedient  devils  come  and  go,  —  a  power 
that  raised  the  dead.  They  tell  that  nature  felt  with 
him,  and  at  his  death  the  strongly  sympathizing  sun 
paused  at  high  noon,  and  for  three  hours  withheld  the 
day ;  that  rocks  were  rent,  and  opening  graves  gave  up 
their  sainted  dead,  who  trod  once  more  the  streets  of 
Zion,the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept ;  they  tell  too  how 
disappointed  Death  gave  back  his  prey,  and  spirit-like, 
Jesus  restored,  in  flesh  and  shape  the  same,  passed 
through  the  doors  shut  up,  and  in  a  bodily  form  was 
taken  up  to  heaven  before  the  face  of  men !  Believe 
men  of  these  things  as  they  will.  To  me  they  are  not 
truth  and  fact,  but  mythic  symbols  and  poetry,  —  the 
psalm  of  praise  with  which  the  world's  rude  heart  extols 
and  magnifies  its  king.  It  is  for  his  truth  and  his  life,  l^ 
his  wisdom,  goodness,  piety,  that  he  is  honored  in  my 
heart ;  yes,  in  the  world's  heart.  It  is  for  this  that  in 
his  name  churches  are  built,  and  prayers  are  prayed ;  for 
this  that  the  best  things  we  know  we  honor  Avith  liis 
name. 

He  is  the  greatest  person  of  the  ages ;  the  proudest 
achievement  of  the  human  race.  He  taught  the  absolute 
religion,  love  to  God  and  man.  That  God  has  yet  greater 
men  in  store  I  doubt  not ;  to  say  this  is  not  to  detract 
from  the  majestic  character  of  Christ,  but  to  affirm  the 
omnipotence  of  God.  When  they  come,  the  old  contest 
will  be  renewed,  —  the  living  prophet  stoned,  the  dead  one 
worshipped.  Be  that  as  it  may,  there  are  duties  he 
teaches   us   far   different   from   those   most   commonly 


272  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

taught.  He  was  the  greatest  fact  in  the  whole  history 
of  man.  Had  he  conformed  to  what  was  told  him  of 
men,  had  he  counselled  only  with  flesh  and  blood,  he 
had  been  nothing  but  a  poor  Jew ;  the  world  had  lost 
that  rich  endowment  of  religious  genius,  that  richest 
treasure  of  religious  life,  the  glad  tidings  of  the  one 
religion,  absolute  and  true.  What  if  he  had  said,  as 
others,  "  None  can  be  greater  than  Moses,  none  so 
great "  ?  He  had  been  a  dwarf ;  the  spirit  of  God  had 
faded  from  his  soul !  But  he  conferred  with  God,  not 
men  ;  took  counsel  of  his  hopes,  not  his  fears.  Working 
for  men,  with  men,  by  men,  trusting  in  God,  and  pure 
as  truth,  he  was  not  scared  at  the  little  din  of  Church  or 
State,  and  trembled  not,  though  Pilate  and  Herod  were 
made  friends  only  to  crucify  him  that  was  a  born  king  of 
the  world.  Methinks  I  hear  that  lofty  spirit  say  to  you 
or  me.  Poor  brother,  fear  not,  nor  despair.  The  good- 
ness actual  in  me  is  possible  for  all.  God  is  near  thee 
now  as  then  to  me, —  rich  as  ever  in  truth,  as  able  to 
create,  as  willing  to  inspire.  Daily  and  nightly  he 
showers  down  his  infinitude  of  light.  Open  thine  eyes 
to  see,  thy  heart  to  live.     Lo,  God  is  here. 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  273 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS. 

THE  CHARACTER  OF  JESUS. 

It  is  plain  that  Jesus  was  a  man  of  large  intellectual 
character.  He  had  an  uncommon  understanding,  was 
clear  in  his  sight,  shrewd  in  his  judgment,  extraordinarily- 
subtle  in  his  arguments,  coming  to  the  point  with  the 
quickness  of  lightning.  What  an  eye  he  had  for  the 
beauty  of  nature,  —  the  little  things  under  his  feet, 
the  great  things  all  about  him  ;  for  cities  set  on  a  hill, 
and  for  the  heavens  over  his  head !  What  an  eye  for  the- 
beauty  of  the  relations  of  things  !  He  saw  a  meaning  in 
the  salt  without  savor,  with  which  men  were  mending 
the  streets,  not  fit  even  for  the  dunghill,  —  and  what  a 
lesson  he  drew  from  it !  He  saw  the  beauty  of  relation 
in  the  lilies,  clad  by  God  in  more  beauty  than  kingly 
Solomon  ;  in  the  ravens,  who  gather  not  into  storehouses 
and  barns,  and  yet  the  Great  Father  feeds  and  shelters 
them  under  his  own  godly  wings.  He  had  reason  also, 
which  saw  intuitively  the  great  universal  law  of  man's 
nature.  And  as  the  result  of  this  three-fold  intellect,  he 
had  an  eloquence  which  held  crowds  of  men  about  him 
till  they  forgot  hunger,  thirst,  and  weariness,  even  the 
drawing  on  of  night.  He  had  a  power  of  reasoning- 
which  sent  away  the  scholarly  Pharisee,  who  had  jour- 
neyed all  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  confute  this  peasant. 
His  eloquence  was  quite  peculiar.  His  mind  full  of  great- 
ideas,  his  heart  aflame  with  noble  sentiments,  he  knew  - 
how  to  put  these  into  the  homeliest  words,  and  yet  give 

18 


274  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

them  the  most  lovely  and  attractive  shape.  In  that 
common  speech,  religion  was  the  text,  his  commentary 
was  the  salt  without  savor,  the  raven  flying  over  his 
head,  the  lilies  of  the  valley,  the  grass,  dried  in  the  sun 
yesterday,  to-day  heating  the  earthen  vessel  whereon  a 
poor  woman  clapped  her  unbaked  bread ;  it  was  the 
tower  of  Siloam,  which  fell  on  men  not  worse  than  the 
survivors  ;  it  was  the  temple,  the  great  idol  of  the  nation, 
of  which  should  be  left  not  one  stone  upon  another  ;  all 
these  were  his  commentaries.  It  was  no  vulgar  mind 
that  could  weave  such  things  into  common  speech  in  a 
moment,  and  make  the  heavens  come  down  and  the  earth 
come  up, — with  marvellous  rapidity  and  instinctive  skill 
seizing  and  using  every  implement  that  might  serve  as  a 
medium  between  his  heavenly  thought  and  the  under- 
standings of  common  men.  When  he  spoke,  some  said 
that  it  thundered  ;  some  said  that  an  angel  spoke  ;  and 
some  said  it  was  the  eloquence  of  genius.  Studying  in 
the  schools  makes  nothing  like  it. 
.  Then  there  is  this  peculiarity  about  his  intellect :  In 
reading  the  first  three  Gospels,  you  find  in  him  a  mind 
which  does  not  so  much  generalize  by  a  copious  induc- 
tion from  a  great  many  facts ;  but  it  sees  the  law,  as  a 
woman  sees  it,  from  a  very  few  principles.  And  so  there 
•is  less  ot  philosophical  talent  than  of  philosophical  genius. 
You  are  surprised  more  at  the  nice  quality  of  this  intel- 
lect than  at  its  great  quantity.  On  this  account  he  an- 
ticipated experience.  There  is  not  a  single  word  in  the 
three  Gospels  which  betrays  the  youth  of  Jesus.  You 
would  all  say,  Behold  a  full-grown  man  long  familiar 
•  with  the  ways  of  men.  You  would  never  think  he  was  a 
•young  man,  scarce  thirty  years  old.  But  I  do  not  say 
you  find  in  Jesus  at  thirty  the  immense  philosophical 
reason  which  marks  Socrates,  Aristotle,  and  Bacon  at 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  275 

sixty  or  seventy,  in  the  maturity  of  their  wisdom;  nor 
would  I  say  that  you  find  such  monuments  of  imagina- 
tion as  you  meet  at  every  step  in  Milton,  Shakespeare, 
or  Dante  ;  nor  that  you  find  such  a  vast  and  comprehen- 
sive understanding  as  you  meet  in  the  practical  managers 
of  States  and  empires.    The  thing  would  not  be  possible. 
In  the  Old  Testament  you  find  the  writings  of  some  men- 
of  distinguished  ability,  —  the   author  of  the  Book  of 
Job,  of  various  parts  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  of  Eccle- 
siasticus,  of  Ecclesiastes,  of  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  of 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah.     They  were  men  of  very  large  • 
intellect,  old,  familiar  with  men,  had  seen  peace  and  in-  • 
stituted  war,  knew  the  ways  of  the  market-house  and  of 
kings'  courts.     In  comparison,  the  words  of  Jesus,  a- 
Nazarene  peasant,  only  thirty  years  old,  are  fully  up  to 
the  highest  level  of  their  writings.     You  never  feel  that 
he  was  inferior  to  them  in  intellectual  grasp. 

Now,  the  common  idea  that  Jesus  received  this  intel- 
lectual power  from  miraculous  inspiration  destroys  all 
the  individuality  of  his  character;  for  it  makes  him 
God,  or  else  a  mere  pipe  on  which  God  plays.  In  either 
case  there  is  nothing  human  about  it,  and  it  is  of  no  use 
to  us. 

But  his  greater  greatness  came  not  from  the  intellect,  • 
but  from  a  higher  source.     It  is  eminence  of  conscience,  •> 
heart,  and  soul ;  in  one  word,  it  is  religious  eminence. 
Here  are  the  proofs  of  it :     He  makes  religion  consist  in  • 
piety  and  morality,  not  in  belief  in  forms,  not  in  outside 
devotion.     Ho  knew  it  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  be  devout  • 
after  the  common  fashion,  —  as  easy  to  make  prayers 
as  to  fill  your  hand  with  dust  from  the  street.     Was  it  a 
little  thing  in  Jesus  to  declare  that  religion  consisted  in 
piety  and  morality  ?     All   the  world  over,  the  priests " 
made  religion  to  consist  in  forms,  rituals,  mutilating  the 


276  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

body  and  spirit,  in  attending  to  artificial  ordinances. 
•Jesus  summed  up  all  the  law  and  the  prophets  in  love 
to  God  and  love  to  man.  Men  worshipped  the  Sabbath ; 
he  religiously  broke  it.  They  thought  God  loved  only 
the  Jew,  and  above  all  some  Jewish  priest,  with  bells  on 

■  his  garments ;  but  he  set  up  a  travelling  Samaritan  as 
the  religious  man.  What  a  gnashing  of  teeth  there  was 
in  the  Jerusalem  Association  when  he  said  the  Samaritan 
was  a  great  man !  Doubtless  it  was  a  story  founded  on 
fact,  —  some  good-natured  Samaritan,  jogging  on  his 
donkey  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  seeing  the  poor  man, 

■  and  giving  him  his  sympathy  and  aid.  It  took  a  man  of 
great  religious  genius  to  say  that  two  thousand  years 
ago  ;  it  is  a  rare  thing  to  comprehend  it  to-day.  See  the 
same  thing  in  his  love  of  the  wicked.  He  went  to  cure 
the  sick  ;  not  to  cure  the  righteous,  and  save  the  well. 

■His  sympathy  was  with  the  oppressed  and  trodden  down, 
and  very  practical  sympathy  it  was  too.  The  finest  pict- 
ure of  an  ideal  gentleman  which  antiquity  has  left  is 
contained  in  the  Book  of  Job.  But  Job's  ideal  gentle- 
man is  very  proud,  overbearing  to  men  beneath  him. 
"  Their  fathers,"  said  he,  "  I  would  have  disdained  to 
set  with  the  dogs  of  my  flock."  The  Book  of  Job  is  one 
of  the  best  in  the  Old  Testament,  —  full  of  poetry,  which 
is  a  small  thing,  and  full  of  piety  and  morality,  which 
is  a  great  thing.  This  is  the  limitation  of  that  ideal 
gentleman.  Now  Jesus  goes  out  to  that  despised  class 
of  men,  and  says  he  came  to  seek  and  save  them.  Was 
■that  a  small  thing?  Even  to-day,  in  democratic  Boston, 
to  be  a  minister  to  the  poor  is  a  reproach.  He  is  es- 
teemed the  most  fortunate  minister  who  is  ministered 
unto,  and  not  who  ministers.  The  man  who  in  Boston 
gathers  crowds  of  men  from  the  common  walks  of  life, 
—  what  is  he  called ?     "A  preacher  to  the  rabble,"  — 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  277 

that  is  the  ecclesiastical  title.  What  was  it  in  the  old 
civilization  two  thousand  years  ago,  —  a  civilization  con- 
trolled by  priests  and  soldiers,  who  had  a  sword  to  offer 
to  the  beggar  and  the  slave,  and  who  looked  with  haughty 
scorn,  like  Aristotle  and  Cicero,  on  men  who  got  their 
bread  by  the  work  of  their  hand  ? 

The  third  thing  was  his  trust  in  God.     The  Hebrews 
were  and  are  more  remarkable  for  their  faith  in   God 
than  any  other  nation  that  ever  lived.     In  this,  Jesus 
was  a  Hebrew  of  Hebrews,  the  most  eminent  of  his  tribe 
in  this  vast  quality.     But  witness  that  his  faith  was  in  ■ 
a  God  who  loved  all  men,  in  the  God  who  went  out  to 
meet  the  prodigal,  and  met  him  a  great  way  off,  and  fell 
on  his  neck  and  kissed  him,  and  was  more  joyous  over 
one  sinner  that   repented   than    over  ninety-nine   that 
needed  no  repentance.     The  first  Gospel  docs  not  under- 
stand this,  and  therefore  denies  the  width  of  Jesus'  faith 
in  God,  and  makes  him  limit  his  ministry  to  his  own  • 
nation;  but  the  second  and  third  Gospels  put  it  beyond- 
a  doubt. 

Now  the  impression  that  he  has  made  on  the  world,- 
the  character  of  his  influence,  the  opinion  which  the 
human  race  has  formed  of  him,  —  all  confirm  this  judg-- 
ment,  derived  from  the  historical  record  of  his  words 
and  works.     It  seems  to  me  that  his  actual  character  ■ 
was  higher  than  the  character  assigned  to  Jehovah  in 
the  Old  Testament,  to   Zeus  in   Greece,  or  Jupiter  in 
Rome.     He  made  a  revolution  in  the  idea  of  God,  and 
himself  went  up  and  took  the  throne  of  the  world.    That 
was  a  step  in  progress ;  and  if  called  upon  to  worship 
the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
a  plain  man,  as  he  is  painted  in  the  first  three  Gospels,  • 
I  should  not  hesitate,  I  should  worship  my  brother ;  for 
in  the  highest  qualities  thi's  actual  man  is  superior  to 


278  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

.  men's  conception  of  God.     He  loves  men  of  all  nations  ; 

•  is  not  angry  with  the  wicked  every  day ;  hating  sin,  he 
has  the  most  womanly  charity  for  the  sinner.  Jesus 
turned  the  heathen  gods  out  of  the  heathen  heaven, 
because  he  was  more  God  than  they ;  and  he  ascended 
the  throne  of  Jehovah,  because  in  his  life  he  gave  more 
proofs  of  justice  and  love  than  Jehovah,  as  he  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Old  Testament.  Let  us  not  be  harsh ;  let 
us  not  blame  men  for  worshipping  the  creature  more 
than  the  Creator.  They  saw  the  Son  liigher  than  the 
Father,  and  they  did  right.  The  popular  adoration  of 
Jesus  to-day  is  to  me  the  best  thing  in  the  popular  eccle- 
siastical religion. 

But  I  do  not  believe  in  the  perfection  of  Jesus,  —  that 
he  had  no  faults  of  character,  was  never  mistaken,  never 
angry,  never  out  of  humor,  never  dejected,  never  despair- 
ing. I  do  not  believe  that  from  his  cradle  to  his  cross 
he  never  did,  nor  said,  nor  felt,  nor  thought,  a  wrong 
thing.  To  say  that  was  his  character,  I  think  would  be 
as  absurd  as  to  say  that  he  learned  to  walk  without 
stumbling,  or  to  talk  without  stammering,  or  could  see 
as  well  at  three  hours  old  as  at  twelve  years,  and  could 
reason  as  well  at  thirty  days  as  at  thirty  years.  God 
does  not  create  monsters,  he  creates  men.  I  cannot  say 
that  in  his  popular  teachings  there  are  no  errors.    It 

•  seems  to  me  very  plain  that  he  taught  the  existence  of 
a  devil ;  that  he  ascribed  evil  qualities  to  God,  wrath 
that  would  not  sleep  at  the  Day  of  Judgment;  that  he 
believed  in  eternal  torment.  His  prediction  that  the 
world  would  soon  be  destroyed,  and  that  the  Son  of 
Man  would  come  back  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  that 
this  should  take  place  during  the  life  of  men  then  living, 
was  obviously  a  mistake.  So  with  the  promise  of  tem- 
poral power  to  the  twelve  apostles.     All  this  shows  the 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  279 

limitations  of  the  man.  Men  claim  that  Jesus  had  no 
error  in  his  creed  or  his  life,  no  defect  in  his  character. 
Then  of  course  he  is  not  a  man,  but  God  himself,  or  a 
bare  pipe  on  which  God  plays ;  and  in  either  case  there 
was  no  virtue,  no  warning,  no  example  in  the  man.  And 
I  think  that  Jesus  would  be  tlie  last  man  in  the  world 
ever  to  have  claimed  the  exemption  that  is  claimed  for 
him  by  the  clergy  in  all  Christian  lands.  I  know  that 
what  I  say  is  a  great  heresy. 

The  coming  of  such  a  man  was  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  mankind.  He  showed  a  higher  type  of  manli- 
ness than  the  world  had  ever  seen  before,  or  men  deemed 
possible.  There  was  manly  intellect  joined  with  wom- 
anly conscience  and  affection  and  soul ;  there  was 
manhood  and  womanhood  united  into  one  great  human- 
hood  of  character.  Men  were  shut  up  in  nationalities ; 
he  looked  at  humanity,  —  all  men  were  as  brothers.  Men  • 
looked  out  at  some  old  conception  of  a  God  who  once 
spoke  on  Sinai,  and  who  said  his  last  word  years  ago. 
He  told  them  there  was  a  living  God,  numbering  the  • 
hairs  of  their  head,  loving  the  eighteen  men  whom 
the  tower  of  Siloam  slew,  and  just  as  ready  to  inspire 
the  humblest  fisherman  by  the  Galilean  lake  as  Moses. 
He  found  men  undertaking  to  serve  God  by  artificial 
rites  and  ceremonies,  sacrifices,  fast  days,  feast  days ; 
and  he  bade  them  serve  Him  by  daily  piety  and  morality ; 
and,  if  they  could  not  find  the  way,  he  walked  before  and 
showed  them,  —  and  this  was  the  greatest  thing  that 
could  be  done. 

I  think  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  greater  than  the  : 
Evangelists  supposed  him  to  be.     They  valued  him  for 
his  miraculous  birth  and  works,  —  because  he  was  the 
Hebrew  Messiah.     I  do  not  believe  his  miraculous  birth 
and  works ;  I  am  sure  he  was  not  the  Hebrew  Messiah. 


/ 


280  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

I  should  not  think  him  any  better  for  being  miraculously 
•born ;  the  common  birth  is  good  enough  for  mankind.  I 
think  the  Christian  churches  greatly  underrate  Jesus. 
•They  make  his  death  his  great  merit.  To  be  willing  to 
spend  a  few  hours  in  dying  for  mankind,  —  what  is  that  ? 
We  must  all  meet  death, —  if  not  to-day,  some  other  day  ; 
and  to  spend  a  few  hours  in  dying  is  a  trifle  any  day  ;  for 
a  few  dollars  a  month,  and  a  bit  of  bunting  with  stripes 
on  it,  you  may  hire  men  any  day  for  that.  But  to  be  a 
man  with  such  a  character  as  that,  possessed  of  such  a 
masculine  quantity  of  intellect,  and  of  such  a  womanly 
quality,  with  such  a  feminine  affection  and   soul, —  I 

■  would  rather  be  that  than  be  a  dozen  Hebrew  Messiahs 
wrought  into  one.  To  teach  men  that  religion  was  piety 
and  morality,  and  what  belonged  to  them ;  to  tell  them 
that  religion  was  not  for  Saturday  only,  but  for  Sunday, 

•  Monday,  and  every  day  ;  for  the  fireside  and  the  way- 

•  side ;  to  live  that  religion,  merciful  to  the  merciless,  hat- 
ing sin  with  all  his  character,  but  loving  the  sinner  with 
all  his  heart ;  able  as  the  ablest-minded,  but  shedding  his 
sunlight  on  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  —  I  would  rather 
be  such  a  man  than  a  hundred  incarnations  of  the  Olym- 
pian Jove.  Men  vastly  underrate  the  character  of  Jesus 
in  looking  to  make  him  a  God.  They  have  forgotten  the 
mighty  manhood  which  burned  in  that  Galilean  breast. 

This  was  the  cause  of  his  success,  —  he  was  a  great 
man,  and  of  the  highest  kind  of  greatness ;  not  without 

■  faults,  but  the  manliest  of  men  ;  not  without  errors  in 
his  doctrine,  as  it  has  been  reported.  He  called  men  off 
from  a  dead  Deity  to  a  living  God,  from  artificial  sacra- 
ments to  natural  piety  and  morality.  He  preached  nat- 
ural religion,  gave  men  a  new  sight  of  humanity.  It  was 
too  great  for  them.  The  first  generation  said  he  was  a 
devil,  and  slew  him;  the  next  said  he  was  a  God,  and 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  281 

worshipped  him.     He  was  not  a  God,  but  a  man  showing 
us  the  way  to  God ;  not  saving  us  by  his  death,  but  lead-  • 
ing  us  by  his  life ;  crucified  between  two  other  malefac- 
tors, as  the  Scripture  tells,  buried  secretly  at  night,  and 
now  worshipped  as  God. 

Though  almost  two  thousand  years  have  passed  by, 
Christendom  has  not  yet  got  high  enough  to  reverence 
tl»e  Galilean  peasant  who  was  our  brother.  We  honor- 
his  death,  but  not  his  life ;  look  to  him  to  save  us  in  our 
sins,  not  to  save  nafrom  them.  Men  call  him  "  Master,"  • 
and  scorn  his  lesson ;  "  Lord,"  and  reject  the  religion 
which  he  taught,  —  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in 
their  affliction,  and  to  keep  a  life  unspotted  from  the 
world. 

I  look  on  Jesus  as  the  highest  product  of  the  human  •• 
race.     I  honor  intellectual  greatness;  I  bend  my  neck- 
to  Socrates,  and  Newton,  and  Laplace,  and  Hegel,  and 
Kant,  and  the  vast  minds  of  our  own  day.     But  what  are--- 
they  all,  compared  with  this  greatness  of  justice,  great- 
ness of  philanthropy,  greatness  of  religion?     Why,  they 
are  as  nothing !    I  look  on  Jesus  not  onl}^  as  a  historical    \y 
prophet,  but  as  a  prophetic  foretelling.     He  shows  what- 
is  in  you  and  me,  and  only  comes  as  the  earliest  flower 
of  the  spring  comes,  to  tell  us  that  summer  is  near  at 
hand.     Amid  the  Csesars,  the  Maximuses,  the  Herculeses,  • 
the  Vishnus,  the  Buddhas,  and  the  Jehovahs,  who  have 
been  successively  the  objects  of  the  earthly  or  heavenly 
worship  of  men,  Jesus  comes  out  as  these  fair  flowers 
come  in  the  wintry  hour,  tokens  of  a  summer  yet  to 
come  of  tropic  realms,  where  all  this  beauty  blossoms  all 
the  year,     I  thank  God  for  the  history  which  Jesus  is  ! 
I  tliank  him  more  for  the  prophecy  which  he  is  !  -1      <\ 


282  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


THE  MISSION  OF  JESUS. 


•■  What  did  Jesus  come  for  ?  To  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost,  not  to  destroy  it ;  and  to  lose  his  own 
life,  not  to  save  it.  His  great  ability  of  intellect  sepa- 
rated him  from  the  sympathy  of  his  age.  The  con- 
trolling men  could  no  more  understand  him  than  an 
oyster  could  follow  an  eagle  in  his  flight  through  the 
sky.      His  motives  were   beyond  their  comprehension. 

•  Men  commonly  sought  the  society  of  the  rich  and  great ; 

•  he  that  of  the  poor  and  lowly.  They  associated  witli  the 
famous  and  respectable ;  he  w^as  the  friend  of  publicans 
and  sinners.  There  were  able  men  enough  about  Jeru- 
salem, seeking  for  ease,  honor,  respectability,  and  money. 
I  find  no  fault  with  them  for  that ;  they  sought  the  best 
things  they  were  acquainted  with.  He  sought  to  serve 
and  bless  mankind.  He  asked  his  daily  bread,  no  more, — 
no  service,  honor,  fame, — and  would  not  be  called  master, 
though  he  was  the  master  of  them  all ;  he  would  not  be 
called  good,  even.  See  what  kind  of  persons  he  held 
up  as  models  to  mankind  :  the  despised  Samaritan,  who 

•  went  out  of  his  way  to  do  good  to  a  national  enemy, 
whom  his  nation  hated, — and  did  it  after  the  man's  own 
countrymen  had  passed  by,  and  left  him  half  dead  ;  the 

■  poor  and  hated  publican,  Avho  dared  not  lift  up  his  eyes 
to  God,  abashed  with  consciousness  of  sin  in  the  sweet 
presence  of  the  Father ;  the  poor  Avidow,  who  stealthily 
dropped  her  two  mites,  saved  by  penurious  self-denial, 
into  the  temple  chest.  These  were  the  models  he  held 
up  for  the  adoration  of  mankind,  wliile  Herod  and  Pilate 
passed  by  in  pomp  and  got  the  admiration  of  the  people, 
and  the  high-priest  stood  there,  arrayed  in  his  costly 
robes,  and  was  greeted  with  the  applause  of  the  multi- 
tude.    See  how  he  lived  in  daily  contact  with  want  and 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  283 

ignorance  and  lowness  and  sin ;  but  he  saw  want  to 
relieve  it,  ignorance  to  teach,  lowness  to  raise  it  up,  sin 
to  awaken  the  soul  in  the  sinner's  bosom,  and  to  elevate 
it  to  God.  He  went  amongst  men  who  seemed  to  think 
that  God  died  in  giving  birth  to  the  Old  Testament,  as 
men  now  think  he  died  in  giving  birth  to  Christ  and  the 
New  Testament.  He  told  them  of  God,  not  a  thousand 
years  off;  showed  them  his  providence,  not  in  killing- 
Pharaoh  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  taking  the  Hebrews 
through,  high  and  dry ;  he  appealed  to  facts,  not  fic- 
tion; he  showed  God's  providence  in  the  grass,  bloom-- 
ing  to-day,  though  feeding  the  oven  to-morrow ;  in  the 
lilies  of  the  valley,  taking  no  thought,  but  clad  in  more 
beauty  than  Solomon,  in  the  fowls  of  the  air,  the  raven 
seeking  his  food  afar,  the  sparrows,  three  of  them  sold 
for  a  penny,  yet  not  one  of  them  falling  to  the  ground 
without  the  Father.  They  wanted  faith ;  and  he  not 
only  had  it,  he  showed  it,  he  lived  it,  he  was  faith- 
manifest  in  the  flesh; 

Do   you   wonder   such  a  man  made  enemies  of  the 
priests,  the  Scribes,  and  the  Pharisees  ?     It  was  not  pos- 
sible it  should  be  otherwise.     His  greatness  put  their- 
littleness  to  shame,  his  charity  was  their  condemnation.  • 
Those  awful  words,  "  Woe  unto  you.  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees !  "  were  not  half  so  condemnatory  as  the  jxirable  of  • 
the  Samaritan  and  the  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son.     They 
could  understand  his  criticism, — it  scorched  and  witheixd- 
them  up,  —  but  his  creation  was  keener  still,  though  they 
comprehended  it  not.     Men  bred  under  a  different  ideal 
of  religion  could  not  see  him  as  he  was,  more  than  a  fly 
can  see  the  State  House.     No  wonder  they  hated  and 
slew  him. 

Do  you  wonder  that  he  was  loved  ?     He  went  out  to 
seek  the  lost,  —  the  poor,  who  had  none  to  comfort ;  the 


284  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

sick,  who  had  nobody  to  heal  them,  except  that  great 
physician ;  the  despised  children  of  Abraham,  who  re- 
membered the  priests'  and  Levites'  hate,  and  paid  for  it 
■with  scorn  and  indignity  and  contempt.  Do  you  wonder 
the  people  heard  him  gladly  ?  I  can  understand  how 
such  a  man  looked  on  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Abra- 
ham,—  poor,  condemned,  and  self-condemned  ;  I  can  un- 
derstand how  ho  went  and  poured  out  his  great  human 
heart  and  his  great  human  soul  to  them,  in  words  that 
ran  round  like  a  river  of  fire,  and  they  turned  and 
blessed  the  man  who  spoke  a  human  word  to  their  hun- 
gry human  soul.  Very  likely  there  were  men  amongst 
them  who  had  given  up  all  hope  of  religion,  who  had  no 
joy  in  the  remembrance  of  the  past,  and  no  hope  in  the 
future,  —  men  who  despaired  of  man,  and  had  no  faith  in 
God.  There  are  always  such  men.  They  are  not  bad, 
only  sick  men,  and  desperate.  The  churches  cast  out 
such  men  as  infidels ;  they  ought  to  take  them  to  their 
arms,  and  cheer,  and  comfort,  and  heal,  and  bless  them. 
That  is  always  a  partial  church  wliich  has  not  a  corner 
in  the  chancel  for  such  as  call  themselves  infidels.  I 
can  understand  liow  Christ  spoke  to  such  men ;  how  he 
solved  their  doubts,  healed  their  wounds,  and  cured 
their  griefs  ;  not  by  a  special  answer  to  every  special 
question,  —  I  do  not  believe  even  his  wisdom  could  have 
given  a  satisfactory  answer  to  every  particular  and 
troublesome  doubt,  —  but  by  awaking  a  natural  religious 
sentiment  in  the  heart.  I  can  understand  how  such  men 
left  everything  and  followed  him ;  how  on  foot,  and  sore, 
tired,  and  hungry,  they  forgot  their  fainting  and  the 
famine  in  their  moutli,  for  the  great  plcntcousness  which 
so  filled  their  soul.  It  is  always  a  great  day  when  a 
man  of  genius  is  born,  a  man  of  merely  intellectual  gen- 
.  ius  ;  it  is  a  very  great  day  when  a  man  is  born  into  the 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  285 

world  with  a  genius  for  justice,  for  love,  and  for  piety. 
If  he  can  speak  only  to  scholars,  in  a  scholar's  speech, 
it  is  a  great  thing,  and  the  human  race  may  well  hold 
its  Christmas  festivals  at  such  a  birth.     But  when  a.  ^— 
man  comes  armed  with  such  a  genius  that  he,  with  his 
single  soul,  can  fill  up  all  the  space  between  highest  God 
and  humblest  man,  so  that  he  can  hear  with  his  own- 
ears,  and  at  first  hand,  the  thoughts  of  God,  and  with 
his  own  mouth,  and  at  first  hand,  tell  them  to  the  peo- 
ple,—  needing  no  mediator  between  him  and  God,  on  the 
one  side,  and  between  him  and  man,  on  the  other  side, 
— then  you  have  a  very  rare  soul,  and  mankind  may 
well  celebrate  its  Easter  for  that.     And  Jesus  was  such- 
a  one.     He  had  the  power  of  receiving  truth  from  God,- 
and  the  power  of  telling  it,  in  a  way  and  with  an  elo- 
quence which  was  thunder  and  lightning  to  the  people, 
such  as  the  world  had  not  seen  before.     It  would  be 
rather  wonderful  to  see  a  man  come  now  to  seek  and 
save   the  lost ;   it  would   imply  something    more   than 
great  intellect,  —  an  unconscious  gift  of  conscience,  af- 
fection, and  the  religious  power.     What  was  it  to  do  this  - 
two    thousand    years    ago  ?    Now   we   have   Jesus   for  - 
our  model,  and  a  hundred  sects  in  all  Christian  lands, 
fired  by  his  example  ;   some  believers  in  his  theology, 
some  disbelievers,  from  St.  Augustine  down  to  Robert 
Owen ;    some   believers   in   the  theology  of  the  times, 
some     disbelievers,    the    believers     in     real     goodness 
towards  men. 

I  have  always  looked  on  Jesus  as  the  greatest  pattern  i^ 
of  a  man  that  the  human  race  has  produced  ;  but  in 
nothing  does  his  greatness  appear  so  high  as  in  the  di- 
rection in  which  he  goes   to   work.     He  turns  to   the 
needy,  and  seeks  for  the  lost.     Here  was  the  greatest- 
man  God  had  raised  up,  engaged  in  the  greatest  and 


286  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

highest  function  a  man  can  fill.  Suppose  such  a  man 
should  come  now,  —  as  much  before  the  popular  religion 
in  our  time  as  he  was  then  before  the  popular  religion  in 

•  Jerusalem,  —  how  would  he  be  received  ?  Some  think 
if  such  a  man  were  to  come,  he  would  report  himself  at 
the  Boston  Association  of  Ministers,  and  be  invited  to 
stand  in  pulpits,  and  perhaps  to  deliver  a  "  Thursday 

■Lecture."     I  doubt  that  he  would  do  any  such  thing. 

•If  so,  I  think  he  would  shake  the  pulpits  worse  than  last 

■  week's  storm  shook  the  steeples.  I  have  some  doubts 
whether  the  ministers  of  the  nineteenth  century  would 
come  off  any  better  than  the  ministers  of  the  first  cen- 
tury did.  I  think  he  would  turn  his  attention  to  the 
lost  now  as  he  did  then ;  he  would  not  have  far  to  go  to 
seek  and  find  them.  Here  are  the  materially  lost,  — 
fugitive  slaves  who  do  not  own  their  own  bodies,  and 
are  hunted  by  men  who  are  members  of  churches  ;  who 
take  the  sacrament  in  the  church,  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
on  Sunday,  and  the  next  day  kidnap  their  brother  men. 

■He  would  care  for  these  outcasts.  He  would  raise  the 
drunkard,  the  criminal,  the  poor,  —  men  who  never  en- 
ter a  church  from  year  to  year,  and  in  a  great  city  die 
and  have  no  consolation ;  who  know  of  no  redeemer, 
human  or  divine.  How  many  thousand  men  and  women 
there  are  who  hear  no  word  of  religious  instruction,  re- 
ligious rebuke,  or  religious  comfort,  who  have  only  one 
act  of  religion,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  performed  in 
their  presence,  and  that  is  the  burial  service  read  over 
their  coffin-lids.  I  think  Christ  would  have  a  word  to 
say  to  and  for  all  these  men.  I  think  there  would  be 
such  a  Sermon  on  the  Mount  as  would  make  the  ears  of 
mankind  tingle.  Then  there  are  men  spiritually  lost, 
and  I  think  he  would  say  a  word  to  tliem.  Thunder  it 
might  be,  terrible  at  first,  but  like  thunder,  as  cleansing 


THOUGHTS  ABOUT  JESUS.  287 

to  the  sky  ;  not  so  like  lightnino;  —  which  shatters  where 
it  shines  —  as  light,  which  cheers  and  revives  Avhat  it 
falls  upon.  I  think  he  would  tell  them  of  the  falseness  of 
their  life,  of  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  joys  in  which  re- 
ligion had  no  part ;  that  Christian  hypocrisy  is  a  poor 
substitute  for  Christian  religion  before  men,  and  poorer 
before  God.  I  think  he  would  show  them  that  religion 
is  natural,  is  human  nature  itself  at  its  work  ;  that  he 
would  prove  to  them  their  need  of  it,  and  show  them  the 
means  of  supply. 

Well,  Jesus,  when  he  did  come,  came  to  seek  and  to 
save  the  lost.     He  had  to  pay  for  it  with  his  life.     Had 
he  come  to  lose  men,  and  not  to  find  them,  he  might 
have  had  rank  and  fame,  have  been  in  the  senate  of  King 
Herod,  Avith  plenty  of  money  and  honor.     But  now  see 
the  odds.     Men  could  not  understand  him  then  ;  but  his  ■ 
idea  went  into  a  few  minds,  his  example  into  more,  and 
ten  years   had   not   passed   by   before  there  were  men  • 
going  all  over  the  world,  seeking  for  what  was  lost ;  and 
before  a  hundred  years,  in  every  great  city  of  the  heathen  • 
world  there  were  Christians,  whom  his  idea  had  inspired, 
and  his  example  had  quickened  into  life.     Now  what  a 
different  world  it  is  because  he  has  done  as  he   did  ! 
Take  that  name  out  of  the  world,  that  great  character  • 
out  of  the  world,  and  all  its  influence,  and  what  should 
we  be  ?     I  speak  within  bounds  when  I  say  he  has  ad- 
vanced the  civilization  of  the  world  at  least  a  thousand 
years.     Yet  we  understand  very  little  of  his  religion ;  • 
we  have  talked  so  much  of  his  divinity  that  we  have 
forgotten  his  humanity. 

To-day  is  Easter  Sunday,  and  all  over  the  Christian 
world,  save  puritanical  New  England,  it  is  a  day  of  re- 
joicing. It  is  to  the  Catholic  Christian  the  great  festival 
of  the  Christian  year.     Men  celebrate  the  resurrection 


288  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

of  Jesus.  To  me  all  that  is  mythology ;  yet  I  welcome 
the  day  which  brings  men  to  a  consciousness  of  that 
great  soul,  and  wish  men  could  see  what  he  came  for, 
and  how  he  did  his  work.  This  seeking  to  save  the  lost 
is  the  special  thing  which  makes  him  so  dear  to  man- 
kind. If  he  had  lived  such  a  life  as  Herod  did,  do  you 
suppose  men  would  ever  have  told  the  story  of  his  resur- 
rection from  the  dead,  and  celebrated  Easter  Festival 
over  that  event  ?  No,  they  would  have  hated  him  the 
•more  if  he  had  been  raised  from  the  dead.  It  was  his 
character  that  made  men  believe  he  wrought  miracles. 
•  It  is  this  which  makes  his  memory  so  precious  to  the 
world. 


CHRIS  TIA  NITY.  289 


A   DISCOURSE   OF    THE   TRANSIENT  AND   PER- 
MANENT IN   CHRISTIANITY. 

Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away  ;  but  my  icords  shall  not  pass  away.  — 
Luke  xxi.  33. 

In  this  sentence  we  have  a  very  clear  indication  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  believed  the  religion  he  taught  would 
be  eternal,  that  the  substance  of  it  would  last  forever. 
Yet  there  are  some  who  are  affrighted  by  the  faintest 
rustle  which  a  heretic  makes  among  the  dry  leaves  of 
theology ;  they  tremble  lest  Christianity  itself  should 
perish  witiiout  hope.  Ever  and  anon  the  cry  is  raised, 
"  The  Philistines  be  upon  us,  and  Christianity  is  in 
danger."  The  least  doubt  respecting  the  popular  the- 
ology, or  the  existing  machinery  of  the  church  ;  the  least 
sign  of  distrust  in  the  religion  of  the  pulpit,  or  the  reli- 
gion of  the  street,  is  by  some  good  men  supposed  to  be 
at  enmity  with  faith  in  Christ,  and  capable  of  shaking 
Christianity  itself.  On  the  other  hand,  a  few  bad  men, 
and  a  few  pious  men,  it  is  said,  on  both  sides  of  the 
water,  tell  us  the  day  of  Christianity  is  past.  The  lat- 
ter, it  is  alleged,  would  persuade  us  that  hereafter  piety 
must  take  a  new  form  ;  the  teachings  of  Jesus  are  to  be 
passed  by ;  that  religion  is  to  wing  her  way  sublime, 
above  the  flight  of  Christianity,  far  away,  toward  heaven, 
as  the  fledged  eaglet  leaves  forever  the  nest  which  shel' 
tered  his  callow  youth.  Let  us  therefore  devote  a  few 
moments  to  this  subject,  and  consider  what  is  transient 
in  Christianity,  and  what  is  permanent  therein.      The 

19 


290  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

topic  seems  not  inappropriate  to  the  times  in  whicli  we 
live,  or  the  occasion  that  calls  us  together. 

Christ  says  his  word  shall  never  pass  away.  Yet,  at 
first  sight,  nothing  seems  more  fleeting  than  a  word.  Tt 
is  an  evanescent  impulse  of  the  most  fickle  element.  It 
leaves  no  track  where  it  went  through  the  air.  Yet  to 
this,  and  this  only,  did  Jesus  intrust  the  truth  wherewith 
he  came  laden  to  the  earth,  —  truth  for  the  salvation  of 
the  world.  He  took  no  pains  to  perpetuate  his  thoughts  ; 
they  were  poured  forth  where  occasion  found  him  an 
audience,  —  by  the  side  of  the  lake,  or  a  well ;  in  a  cot- 
tage, or  the  temple  ;  in  a  fisher's  boat,  or  the  synagogue 
of  the  Jews.  He  founds  no  institution  as  a  monument 
of  his  words.  He  appoints  no  order  of  men  to  preserve 
his  bright  and  glad  relations.  He  only  bids  his  friends 
give  freely  the  truth  they  had  freely  received.  He  did 
not  even  write  his  words  in  a  book.  With  a  noble  con- 
fidence, the  result  of  his  abiding  faith,  he  scattered  them 
broadcast  on  the  world,  leaving  the  seed  to  its  own  vi- 
tality. He  knew  that  what  is  of  God  cannot  fail,  for 
God  keeps  his  own.  He  sowed  his  seed  in  the  heart,  and 
left  it  there,  to  be  watered  and  warmed  by  the  dew  and 
the  sun  whicli  heaven  sends.  He  felt  his  words  were  for 
eternity.  So  he  trusted  them  to  the  uncertain  air ;  and 
for  eighteen  hundred  years  that  faithful  element  has  held 
them  good,  —  distinct  as  when  first  warm  from  his  lips. 
Now  they  are  translated  into  every  human  speech,  and 
murmured  in  all  earth's  thousand  tongues,  from  the  pine 
forests  of  the  North  to  the  palm  groves  of  eastern  Ind. 
They  mingle,  as  it  were,  with  the  roar  of  a  populous  city, 
and  join  the  chime  of  the  desert  sea.  Of  a  Sabbath  morn 
they  are  repeated  from  church  to  church,  from  isle  to 
isle,  and  land  to  land,  till  their  music  goes  round  the 
world.     These  words  have  become  the  breath  of   the 


CHRISTIANITY.  291 

good,  the  hope  of  the  wise,  the  joy  of  the  pious,  and  that 
for  many  millions  of  hearts.  They  are  the  prayers  of 
our  churches  ;  our  better  devotion  by  fireside  and  field- 
side  ;  the  enchantment  of  our  hearts.  It  is  these  words 
that  still  work  wonders,  to  w^hich  the  first  recorded 
miracles  were  nothing  in  grandeur  and  utility.  It  is 
these  which  build  our  temples  and  beautify  our  homes. 
They  raise  our  thoughts  of  sublimity  ;  they  purify  our 
ideal  of  purity  ;  they  hallow  our  prayer  for  truth  and 
love.  They  make  beauteous  and  divine  the  life  which 
plain  men  lead.  They  give  wings  to  our  aspirations. 
What  charmers  they  are !  Sorrow  is  lulled  at  their 
bidding.  They  take  the  sting  out  of  disease,  and  rob 
adversity  of  his  power  to  disappoint.  They  give  health 
and  wings  to  the  pious  soul,  broken-hearted  and  ship- 
wrecked in  his  voyage  through  life,  and  encourage  him 
to  tempt  the  perilous  way  once  more.  They  make  all 
things  ours ;  Christ  our  brother ;  time  our  servant ; 
death  our  ally,  and  the  witness  of  our  triumph.  They 
reveal  to  us  the  presence  of  God,  Avhich  else  we  might 
not  have  seen  so  clearly  in  the  first  wind-flower  of 
spring,  in  the  falling  of  a  sparrow,  in  the  distress  of  a 
nation,  in  the  sorrow  or  the  rapture  of  the  world.  Silence 
the  voice  of  Christianity,  and  the  Avorld  is  well-nigh 
dumb ;  for  gone  is  that  sweet  music  which  kept  in  awe 
the  rulers  and  the  people,  which  cheers  the  poor  widow 
in  her  lonely  toil,  and  comes,  like  light  through  the  win- 
dows of  morning,  to  men  who  sit  stooping  and  feeble, 
with  failing  eyes  and  a  hungering  heart.  It  is  gone  — 
all  gone  !  only  the  cold,  bleak  world  left  before  them. 

Such  is  the  life  of  these  words  ;  such  the  empire  they 
have  won  for  themselves  over  men's  minds  since  they 
were  spoken  first.  In  the  mean  time,  the  words  of  great 
men  and  mighty,  whose  name  shook  whole  continents, 


292  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

though  graven  in  metal  and  stone,  though  stamped  in 
institutions,  and  defended  by  whole  tribes  of  priests  and 
troops  of  followers,  —  their  words  have  gone  to  the 
ground,  and  the  world  gives  back  no  echo  of  their  voice. 
Meanwhile  the  great  works,  also,  of  old  times,  castle  and 
tower,  and  town,  their  cities  and  their  empires,  have 
perished,  and  left  scarce  a  mark  on  the  bosom  of  the 
earth  to  show  they  once  have  been.  The  philosophy  of 
the  wise,  the  art  of  the  accomplished,  the  song  of  the 
poet,  the  ritual  of  the  priest,  though  honored  as  divine 
in  their  day,  have  gone  down  a  prey  to  oblivion.  Silence 
has  closed  over  them  ;  only  their  spectres  now  haunt  the 
earth.  A  deluge  of  blood  has  swept  over  the  nations ; 
a  night  of  darkness,  more  deep  than  the  fabled  darkness 
of  Egypt,  has  lowered  down  upon  that  flood,  to  destroy 
or  to  hide  what  the  deluge  had  spared.  But  through  all 
this  the  words  of  Christianity  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  lips  of  that  Hebrew  youth,  gentle  and  beautiful 
as  the  light  of  a  star,  not  spent  by  their  journey  through 
time  and  through  space.  They  have  built  up  a  new 
civilization,  which  the  wisest  Gentile  never  hoped  for, 
which  the  most  pious  Hebrew  never  foretold.  Through 
centuries  of  wasting  these  words  have  flown  on,  like  a 
dove  in  the  storm,  and  now  wait  to  descend  on  hearts 
pure  and  earnest,  as  the  Father's  spirit,  we  are  told,  came 
down  on  his  lowly  Son.  The  old  heavens  and  the  old 
earth  are  indeed  passed  away,  but  the  Word  stands. 
Nothing  shows  clearer  than  this  how  fleeting  is  what  man 
calls  great,  how  lasting  what  God  pronounces  true. 

Looking  at  the  word  of  Jesus,  at  real  Christianity,  the 
pure  religion  he  taught,  nothing  appears  more  fixed  and 
certain.  Its  influence  widens  as  light  extends  ;  it  deep- 
ens as  the  nations  grow  more  wise.  But,  looking  at  the 
history  of  what  men  call  Christianity,  nothing  seems 


CHRISTIANITY.  293 

more  uncertain  and  perisliable.  While  true  religion  is 
always  the  same  thing,  in  each  century  and  every  land, 
in  each  man  that  feels  it,  the  Christianity  of  the  pulpit, 
which  is  the  religion  taught,  the  Christianity  of  the  people, 
which  is  the  religion  that  is  accepted  and  lived  out,  has 
never  been  the  same  thing  in  any  two  centuries  or  lands, 
except  only  in  name.  The  difference  between  w^hat  is 
called  Christianity  by  the  Unitarians  in  our  times,  and 
that  of  some  ages  past,  is  greater  than  the  difference 
between  Mahomet  and  the  Messiah.  The  difference  at 
this  day  between  opposing  classes  of  Christians,  the 
difference  between  the  Christianity  of  some  sects  and 
that  of  Christ  himself,  is  deeper  and  more  vital  than 
that  between  Jesus  and  Plato,  pagan  as  we  call  him. 
The  Christianity  of  the  seventh  century  has  passed  away. 
We  recognize  only  the  ghost  of  superstition  in  its  faded 
features,  as  it  comes  up  at  our  call.  It  is  one  of  the 
things  which  have  been,  and  can  be  no  more  ;  for  neither 
God  nor  the  world  goes  back.  Its  terrors  do  not  frighten, 
nor  its  hopes  allure  us.  We  rejoice  that  it  has  gone. 
But  how  do  we  know  that  our  Christianity  shall  not 
share  the  same  fate  ?  Is  there  that  difference  between 
the  nineteenth  century  and  some  seventeen  that  have 
gone  before  it  since  Jesus,  to  warrant  the  belief  that 
our  notion  of  Christianity  shall  last  for  ever  ?  The 
stream  of  time  has  already  beat  down  philosophies  and 
theologies,  temple  and  church,  though  never  so  old  and 
revered.  How  do  we  know  there  is  not  a  perishing  ele- 
ment in  what  we  call  Christianity  ?  Jesus  tell  us  Ids 
word  is  the  word  of  God,  and  so  shall  never  pass  away. 
But  who  tells  us  that  our  word  shall  never  pass  away  ? 
that  our  iiotion  of  liis  word  shall  stand  for  ever  ? 

Let  us  look  at  this  matter  a.  little  more  closely.     In 
actual  Christianity,  —  that  is,  in  that  portion  of  Chris- 


294  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

tianity  which  is  preached  and  believed,  —  there  seems  to 
have  been,  ever  since  the  time  of  its  earthly  founder, 
two  elements,  the  one  transient,  the  other  permanent. 
The  one  is  the  thought,  the  folly,  the  uncertain  wisdom, 
the  theological  notions,  the  impiety  of  man  ;  the  other, 
the  eternal  truth  of  God.  These  two  bear,  perhaps,  the 
same  relation  to  each  other  that  the  phenomena  of  out- 
ward nature,  such  as  sunshine  and  cloud,  growth,  decay, 
and  reproduction,  bear  to  the  great  law  of  nature,  which 
underlies  and  supports  them  all.  As  in  that  case  more 
attention  is  commonly  paid  to  the  particular  phenomena 
than  to  the  general  law,  so  in  this  case  more  is  gener- 
ally given  to  the  transient  in  Christianity  than  to  the 
permanent  therein. 

It  must  be  confessed,  though  with  sorrow,  that  tran- 
sient things  form  a  great  part  of  what  is  commonly 
taught  as  religion.  An  undue  place  has  often  been  as- 
signed to  forms  and  doctrines,  while  too  little  stress  has 
been  laid  on  the  divine  life  of  the  soul,  love  to  God,  and 
love  to  man.  Religious  forms  may  be  useful  and  beau- 
tiful. They  are  so,  whenever  they  speak  to  the  soul, 
and  answer  a  want  thereof.  In  our  present  state  some 
forms  are  perhaps  necessary.  But  they  are  only  the  ac- 
cident of  Christianity,  not  its  substance.  They  are  the 
robe,  not  the  angel,  who  may  take  another  robe  quite 
as  becoming  and  useful.  One  sect  has  many  forms  ; 
another,  none.  Yet  both  may  be  equally  Christian,  in 
spite  of  the  redundance  or  the  deficiency.  They  are  a 
part  of  the  language  in  which  religion  speaks,  and  exist, 
with  few  exceptions,  wherever  man  is  found.  In  our 
calculating  nation,  in  our  rationalizing  sect,  we  have 
retained  but  two  of  the  rites  so  numerous  in  the  early 
Christian  Church,  and  even  these  we  have  attenuated  to 
the  last  degree,  leaving  them  little  more  than  a  spectre 


CHRISTIANITY.  295 

of  the  ancient  form.  Another  age  may  continue  or  for- 
sake botli ;  may  revive  old  forms,  or  invent  new  ones  to 
suit  the  altered  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  yet  be 
Christians  quite  as  good  as  we,  or  our  fathers  of  the 
dark  ages.  Whether  the  apostles  designed  these  rites 
to  be  perpetual  seems  a  question  which  belongs  to  schol- 
ars and  antiquarians,  —  not  to  us,  as  Christian  men  and 
women.  So  long  as  they  satisfy  or  help  the  pious  heart, 
so  long  they  are  good.  Looking  behind  or  around  us, 
we  see  that  the  forms  and  rites  of  the  Christians  are 
quite  as  fluctuating  as  those  of  the  heathens ;  from 
whom  some  of  them  have  been,  not  unwisely,  adopted 
by  the  earlier  church. 

Again,  the  doctrines  that  have  been  connected  with 
Christianity,  and  taught  in  its  name,  are  quite  as  change- 
able as  the  form.  This  also  takes  place  unavoidably. 
If  observations  be  made  upon  nature,  —  which  must  take 
place  so  long  as  man  has  senses  and  understanding,  — 
there  will  be  a  philosophy  of  nature,  and  philosophical 
doctrines.  These  will  differ,  as  the  observations  are  just 
or  inaccurate,  and  as  the  deductions  from  observed  facts 
are  true  or  false.  Hence  there  will  be  different  schools 
of  natural  philosophy,  so  long  as  men  have  eyes  and  un- 
derstandings of  different  clearness  and  strength.  And 
if  men  observe  and  reflect  upon  religion,  —  which  will  be 
done  so  long  as  man  is  a  religious  and  reflective  being, — 
there  must  also  be  a  philosophy  of  religion,  a  theology, 
and  theological  doctrines.  These  will  differ,  as  men 
have  felt  much  or  little  of  religion,  as  they  analyze  their 
sentiments  correctly  or  otherwise,  and  as  they  have  rea- 
soned right  or  wrong.  Now,  the  true  system  of  nature, 
which  exists  in  the  outward  facts,  whether  discovered  or 
not,  is  always  the  same  thing,  though  the  philosophy  of 
nature,  which  men  invent,  change  every  month,  and  be 


296  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

one  thing  at  London  and  the  opposite  at  Berlin.  Thus 
there  is  but  one  system  of  nature  as  it  exists  in  fact, 
though  many  theories  of  nature,  which  exist  in  our  im- 
perfect notions  of  that  system,  and  by  which  we  may 
approximate  and  at  length  reach  it.  Now,  there  can  be 
but  one  religion  which  is  absolutely  true,  existing  in  the 
facts  of  human  nature  and  the  ideas  of  infinite  God. 
That,  whether  acknowledged  or  not,  is  always  the  same 
thing,  and  never  changes.  So  far  as  a  man  has  any  real 
religion,  —  either  the  principle  or  the  sentiment  thereof, 
—  so  far  he  has  that,  by  whatever  name  he  may  call  it. 
For,  strictly  speaking,  there  is  but  one  kind  of  religion, 
as  there  is  but  one  kind  of  love,  though  the  manifesta- 
tions of  this  religion,  in  forms,  doctrines,  and  life,  be 
never  so  diverse.  It  is  through  these,  men  approximate 
to  the  true  expression  of  this  religion.  Now  while  this 
religion  is  one  and  always  the  same  thing,  tliere  may  be 
numerous  systems  of  theology  or  philosophies  of  relig- 
ion. These,  with  their  creeds,  confessions,  and  collec- 
tions of  doctrines,  deduced  by  reasoning  upon  the  facts 
observed,  may  be  baseless  and  false,  either  because  the 
observation  was  too  narrow  in  extent,  or  otherwise  de- 
fective in  point  of  accuracy,  or  because  the  reasoning  was 
illogical,  and  therefore  the  deduction  spurious.  Each  of 
these  three  faults  is  conspicuous  in  the  systems  of  the- 
ology. Now,  the  solar  system  as  it  exists  in  fact  is  per- 
manent, though  the  notions  of  Thales  and  Ptolemy,  of 
Copernicus  and  Descartes,  about  this  system,  prove  tran- 
sient, imperfect  approximations  to  the  true  expression. 
So  the  Christianity  of  Jesus  is  permanent,  though  what 
passes  for  Christianity  with  popes  and  catechisms,  with 
sects  and  churches,  in  the  first  century  or  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  prove  transient  also.  Now,  it  has  some- 
times  happened   that   a  man   took   his    philosophy  of 


CHRISTIANITY.  '        297 

nature  at  second-hand,  and  then  attempted  to  make  his 
observations  conform  to  his  theory,  and  nature  ride  in 
his  panniers.  Thus  some  philosophers  refused  to  look 
at  the  moon  through  Galileo's  telescope;  for,  according 
to  their  theory  of  vision,  such  an  instrument  would  not 
aid  the  sight.  Thus  their  preconceived  notions  stood  up 
between  them  and  nature.  Now,  it  has  often  happened 
that  men  took  their  theology  thus  at  second-hand,  and 
distorted  the  history  of  the  world  and  man's  nature  be- 
sides, to  make  religion  conform  to  their  notions.  Their 
theology  stood  between  them  and  God.  Those  obstinate 
philosophers  have  disciples  in  no  small  number. 

What  another  has  said  of  false  systems  of  science  will 
apply  equally  to  the  popular  theology :  "  It  is  barren  in 
effects,  fruitful  in  questions,  slow  and  languid  in  its  im- 
provement, exhibiting  in  its  generality  the  counterfeit  of 
perfection,  but  ill  filled  up  in  its  details,  popular  in  its 
choice,  but  suspected  by  its  very  promoters,  and  therefore 
bolstered  up  and  countenanced  with  artifices.  Even 
those  who  have  been  determined  to  try  for  themselves, 
to  add  their  support  to  learning,  and  to  enlarge  its  limits, 
have  not  dared  entirely  to  desert  received  opinions,  nor 
to  seek  the  spring-head  of  things.  But  they  think  they 
have  done  a  great  thing  if  they  intersperse  and  contribute 
something  of  their  own ;  prudently  considering,  that  by 
their  assent  they  can  save  tlieir  modesty,  and  by  their 
contributions,  their  liberty.  Neither  is  there,  nor  ever 
will  be,  an  end  or  limit  to  these  things.  One  snatches 
at  one  thing,  another  is  pleased  with  another  ;  there  is 
no  dry  nor  clear  sight  of  anything.  Every  one  plays  the 
philosopher  out  of  the  small  treasures  of  his  own  fancy  ; 
the  more  sublime  wits  more  acutely  and  with  better  suc- 
cess, the  duller  with  less  success,  but  equal  obstinacy ; 
and,  by  the  discipline  of  some  learned  men,  sciences  are 


298  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

bounded  within  the  limits  of  some  certain  authors  which 
they  have  set  down,  imposing  them  upon  old  men  and 
instilling  them  into  young.  So  that  now  (as  Tully  cav- 
illed upon  Csesar's  consulship)  the  star  Lyra  riseth  by 
an  edict,  and  authority  is  taken  for  truth,  and  not  truth 
for  authority  ;  which  kind  of  order  and  discipline  is  very 
convenient  for  our  present  use,  but  banisheth  those  which 
are  better." 

Any  one  who  traces  the  history  of  what  is  called 
Christianity,  will  see  that  nothing  changes  more  from 
age  to  age  than  the  doctrines  taught  as  Christian,  and 
insisted  on  as  essential  to  Christianity  and  personal  sal- 
vation. What  is  falsehood  in  one  province  passes  for 
truth  in  another.  The  heresy  of  one  age  is  the  orthodox 
belief  and  "  only  infallible  rule "  of  the  next.  Now 
Arius,  and  now  Athanasius,  is  lord  of  the  ascendant. 
Both  were  excommunicated  in  their  turn,  each  for  affirm- 
ing what  the  other  denied.  Men  are  burned  for  profess- 
ing what  men  are  burned  for  denying.  For  centuries  the 
doctrines  of  the  Christians  were  no  better,  to  say  the 
least,  than  those  of  their  contemporary  pagans.  The 
theological  doctrines  derived  from  our  fathers  seem  to 
have  come  from  Judaism,  Heathenism,  and  the  caprice 
of  philosophers,  far  more  than  they  have  come  from  the 
principle  and  sentiment  of  Christianity.  The  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity,  the  very  Achilles  of  theological  dogmas, 
belongs  to  philosophy  and  not  religion  ;  its  subtleties 
cannot  even  be  expressed  in  our  tongue.  As  old  relig- 
ions became  superannuated,  and  died  out,  they  left  to 
the  rising  faith,  as  to  a  residuary  legatee,  their  forms  and 
their  doctrines  ;  or  rather,  as  the  giant  in  the  fable  left 
his  poisoned  garment  to  work  the  overthrow  of  his  con- 
queror. Many  tenets  that  pass  current  in  our  theology 
seem  to  be  the  refuse  of  idol  temples,  the  off-scourings 


CHRISTIANITY.  299 

of  Jewish  and  heathen  cities,  rather  than  the  sands 
of  virgin  gold  which  the  stream  of  Christianity  has  worn 
off  from  the  rock  of  ages,  and  brought  in  its  bosom  for 
us.  It  is  wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  wherewith  men  have 
built  on  the  corner-stone  Christ  laid.  What  wonder  the 
fabric  is  in  peril  when  tried  by  fire  ?  The  stream  of 
Christianity,  as  men  receive  it,  has  caught  a  stain  from 
every  soil  it  has  filtered  through,  so  that  now  it  is  not 
the  pure  water  from  the  well  of  life  which  is  offered  to 
our  lips,  but  streams  troubled  and  polluted  by  man  with 
mire  and  dirt.  If  Paul  and  Jesus  could  read  our  books 
of  theological  doctrines,  would  they  accept  as  their  teach- 
ing what  men  have  vented  in  their  name  ?  Never,  till 
the  letters  of  Paul  had  faded  out  of  his  memory  ;  never, 
till  the  words  of  Jesus  had  been  torn  out  from  the  book 
of  life.  It  is  their  notions  about  Christianity  men  have 
taught  as  the  only  living  word  of  God.  They  have  piled 
their  own  rubbish  against  the  temple  of  Truth  where 
Piety  comes  up  to  worship  ;  what  wonder  the  pile  seems 
unshapely  and  like  to  fall  ?  But  these  theological  doc- 
trines are  fleeting  as  the  leaves  on  the  trees.     They  — 

"  Are  found 
Now  green  in  youth,  now  withered  on  the  ground  : 
Another  race  the  following  spring  supplies  ; 
They  fall  successive,  and  successive  rise." 

Like  the  clouds  of  the  sky,  they  are  here  to-day  ;  to- 
morrow, all  swept  off  and  vanished  ;  while  Cliristianity 
itself,  like  the  heaven  above,  with  its  sun,  and  moon,  and 
uncounted  stars,  is  always  over  our  head,  though  the 
cloud  sometimes  debars  us  of  the  needed  light.  It  must 
of  necessity  be  the  case  that  our  reasonings,  and  there- 
fore our  theological  doctrines,  are  imperfect,  and  so 
perishing.     It  is  only  gradually  that  we  approach  to  the 


300  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

true  system  of  nature  by  observation  and  reasoning,  and 
work  out  our  philosophy  and  theology  by  the  toil  of  the 
brain.  But  meantime,  if  we  are  faithful,  the  great  truths 
of  morality  and  religion,  the  deep  sentiment  of  love  to 
man  and  love  to  God,  are  perceived  intuitively,  and  by 
instinct,  as  it  were,  though  our  theology  be  imperfect 
and  miserable.  The  theological  notions  of  Abraham,  to 
take  the  story  as  it  stands,  were  exceedingly  gross,  yet  a 
greater  than  Abraham  has  told  us,  "  Abraham  desired  to 
see  my  day,  saw  it,  and  was  glad."  Since  these  notions 
are  so  fleeting,  why  need  we  accept  the  commandment 
of  men  as  the  doctrine  of  God  ? 

This  transitoriness  of  doctrines  appears  in  many  in- 
stances, of  which  two  may  be  selected  for  a  moi'e  atten- 
tive consideration.  First,  the  doctrine  respecting  the 
origin  and  authority  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 
There  has  been  a  time  when  men  were  burned  for  assert- 
ing doctrines  of  natural  philosophy  which  rested  on  evi- 
dence the  most  incontestable,  because  those  doctrines 
conflicted  with  sentences  in  the  Old  Testament.  Every 
word  of  that  Jewish  record  was  regarded  as  miraculously 
inspired,  and  therefore  as  infallibly  true.  It  was  believed 
that  the  Christian  religion  itself  rested  thereon,  .and 
must  stand  or  fall  with  the  immaculate  Hebrew  text. 
He  was  deemed  no  small  sinner  who  found  mistakes  in 
the  manuscripts.  On  the  authority  of  the  written  word 
man  was  taught  to  believe  impossible  legends,  conflicting 
assertions  ;  to  take  fiction  for  fact,  a  dream  for  a  miracu- 
lous revelation  of  God,  an  Oriental  poem  for  a  grave 
history  of  miraculous  events,  a  collection  of  amatory 
idyls  for  a  serious  discourse  "  touching  the  mutual  love 
of  Christ  and  the  Church  ;  "  they  have  been  taught  to 
accept  a  picture  sketclied  by  some  glowing  Eastern  im- 
agination, never  intended  to  be  taken  for  a  reality,  as  a 


CHRISTIANITY.  301 

proof  that  the  infinite  God  spoke  in  human  words,  ap- 
peared in  tlie  shape  of  a  cloud,  a  flaming  bush,  or  a  man 
who  ate,  and  drank,  and  vanished  into  smoke  ;  that  he 
gave  counsels  to-day,  and  the  opposite  to-morrow  ;  that 
he  violated  his  own  laws,  was  angry,  and  was  only  dis- 
suaded by  a  mortal  man  from  destroying  at  once  a  whole 
nation,  —  millions  of  men  who  rebelled  against  their 
leader  in  a  moment  of  anguish.  Questions  in  philosophy, 
questions  in  the  Christian  religion,  have  been  settled  by 
an  appeal  to  that  book.  The  inspiration  of  its  authors 
has  been  assumed  as  infallible.  Every  fact  in  the  early 
Jewish  history  has  been  taken  as  a  type  of  some  analo- 
gous fact  in  Christian  history.  The  most  distant  events, 
even  such  as  are  still  in  the  arms  of  time,  were  supposed 
to  be  clearly  foreseen  and  foretold  by  pious  Hebrews  sev- 
eral centuries  before  Christ.  It  has  been  assumed  at 
the  outset,  with  no  shadow  of  evidence,  that  those  writers 
held  a  miraculous  communication  with  God,  such  as  he 
has  granted  to  no  other  man.  What  was  originally  a 
presumption  of  bigoted  Jews  became  an  article  of  faith, 
which  Cliristians  were  burned  for  not  believing.  This 
has  been  for  centuries  the  general  opinion  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  though  the 
former  never  accepted  the  Bible  as  the  only  source  of 
religious  truth.  It  has  been  so.  Still  worse,  it  is  now 
the  general  opinion  of  religious  sects  at  this  day.  Hence 
the  attempt,  which  always  fails,  to  reconcile  the  philoso- 
phy of  our  times  with  the  poems  in  Genesis  writ  a  thou- 
sand years  before  Christ.  Hence  the  attempt  to  conceal 
the  contradictions  in  the  record  itself.  Matters  have 
come  to  such  a  pass  that  even  now  he  is  deemed  an  in- 
fidel, if  not  by  implication  an  atheist,  whose  reverence 
for  the  Most  High  forbids  him  to  believe  that  God  com- 
manded Abraham  to  sacrifice   his  son,  —  a  thought  at 


302  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

which  the  flesh  creeps  with  horror ;  to  believe  it  solely  on 
the  authority  of  an  Oriental  story,  written  down  nobody 
knows  when  or  by  whom,  or  for  what  purpose ;  which 
may  be  a  poem,  but  cannot  be  the  record  of  a  fact,  un- 
less God  is  the  author  of  confusion  and  a  lie. 

Now,  this  idolatry  of  the  Old  Testament  has  not 
always  existed.  Jesus  says  that  none  born  of  a  woman 
is  greater  than  John  the  Baptist,  yet  the  least  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  was  greater  than  John.  Paul  tells 
us  the  law  —  the  very  crown  of  the  old  Hebrew  revela- 
tion—  is  a  shadow  of  good  things  which  have  now  come; 
only  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ ;  and  when 
faith  has  come,  that  we  are  no  longer  under  the  school- 
master ;  that  it  was  a  law  of  sin  and  death,  from  which 
we  are  made  free  by  the  law  of  the  spirit  of  life.  Chris- 
tian teachers  themselves  have  differed  so  widely  in  their 
notion  of  the  doctrines  and  meaning  of  those  books  that 
it  makes  one  weep  to  think  of  the  follies  deduced  there- 
from. But  modern  criticism  is  fast  breaking  to  pieces 
this  idol  which  men  have  made  out  of  the  Scriptures. 
It  has  shown  that  here  are  the  most  different  works 
thrown  together ;  that  their  authors,  wise  as  they  some- 
times were,  pious  as  we  feel  often  their  spirit  to  have 
been,  had  only  that  inspiration  which  is  common  to 
other  men  equally  pious  and  wise ;  that  they  were  by 
no  means  infallible,  but  were  mistaken  in  facts  or  in 
reasoning,  —  uttered  predictions  which  time  has  not  ful- 
filled ;  men  who  in  some  measure  partook  of  the  dark- 
ness and  limited  notions  of  their  age,  and  were  not 
always  above  its  mistakes  or  its  corruptions. 

The  history  of  opinions  on  the  New  Testament  is  quite 
similar.  It  has  been  assumed  at  the  outset,  it  would 
seem  with  no  sufficient  reason,  without  the  smallest 
pretence  on  its  writers'  part,  that  all  of  its  authors  were 


CHRISTIANITY.  303 

infallibly  and  miraculously  inspired,  so  that  they  could 
commit  no  error  of  doctrine  or  fact.  Men  have  been 
bid  to  close  their  eyes  at  the  obvious  difference  between 
Luke  and  John,  the  serious  disagreement  between  Paul 
and  Peter ;  to  believe,  on  the  smallest  evidence,  accounts 
which  shock  the  moral  sense  and  revolt  the  reason,  and 
tend  to  place  Jesus  in  the  same  series  with  Hercules, 
and  Apollonius  of  Tyana ;  accounts  which  Paul  in  the 
Epistles  never  mentions,  though  he  also  had  a  vein  of 
the  miraculous  running  quite  through  him.  Men  have 
been  told  that  all  these  things  must  be  taken  as  part 
of  Christianity,  and  if  they  accepted  the  religion,  they 
must  take  all  these  accessories  along  with  it ;  that  the 
living  spirit  could  not  be  had  without  the  killing  letter. 
All  the  books  which  caprice  or  accident  had  brought 
together  between  the  lids  of  the  Bible  were  declared  to 
be  the  infallible  word  of  God,  the  only  certain  rule  of  re- 
ligious faith  and  practice.  Thus  the  Bible  was  made  not 
a  single  channel,  but  the  only  certain  rule  of  religious 
faith  and  practice.  To  disbelieve  any  of  its  statements, 
or  even  the  common  interpretation  put  upon  those  state- 
ments by  the  particular  age  or  church  in  which  the  man 
belonged,  was  held  to  be  infidelity,  if  not  atheism.  In 
the  name  of  him  who  forbid  us  to  judge  our  brother, 
good  men  and  pious  men  have  applied  these  terms  to 
others,  good  and  pious  as  themselves.  That  state  of 
things  has  by  no  means  passed  away.  Men  who  cry 
down  the  absurdities  of  paganism  in  the  worst  spirit  of 
the  French  "free  thinkers,"  call  others  infidels  and 
atheist,  who  point  out,  though  reverently,  other  absurd- 
ities which  men  have  piled  upon  Christianity.  So  the 
world  goes.  An  idolatrous  regard  for  the  imperfect 
scripture  of  God's  word  is  the  apple  of  Atalanta,  which 
defeats  theologians  runninor  for  the  hand  of  divine  truth. 


304  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

But  the  current  notions  respecting  the  infallible  in- 
spiration of  the  Bible  have  no  foundation  in  the  Bible 
itself.  Which  evangelist,  which  apostle  of  the  New 
Testament,  what  prophet  or  psalmist  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, ever  claims  infallible  authority  for  himself  or  for 
others  ?  Which  of  them  does  not  in  his  own  writings 
show  that  he  was  finite,  and,  with  all  his  zeal  and  piety, 
possessed  but  a  limited  inspiration,  the  bound  whereof 
we  can  sometimes  discover  ?  Did  Christ  ever  demand 
that  men  should  assent  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Old 
Testament,  credit  its  stories,  and  take  its  poems  for  his- 
tories, and  believe  equally  two  accounts  that  contradict 
one  another  ?  Has  he  ever  told  you  that  all  the  truths 
of  his  religion,  all  the  beauty  of  a  Christian  life,  should 
be  contained  in  the  writings  of  those  men  who,  even 
after  his  resurrection,  expected  him  to  be  a  Jewish 
king  ;  of  men  who  were  sometimes  at  variance  with 
one  another,  and  misunderstood  his  divine  teachings  ? 
Would  not  those  modest  writers  themselves  be  con- 
founded at  the  idolatry  we  pay  them  ?  Opinions  may 
change  on  these  points,  as  they  have  often  changed  — 
changed  greatly  and  for  the  worse  since  the  days  of 
Paul.  They  are  changing  now,  and  we  may  hope  for 
the  better ;  for  God  makes  man's  folly  as  well  as  his 
wrath  to  praise  him,  and  continually  brings  good  out 
of  evil. 

Another  instance  of  the  transitoriness  of  doctrines 
taught  as  Christian  is  found  in  those  which  relate  to  the 
nature  and  authority  of  Christ.  One  ancient  party  has 
told  us  that  he  is  the  infinite  God ;  another,  that  he  is 
both  God  and  man ;  a  third,  that  he  was  a  man,  the  son 
of  Joseph  and  Mary,  born  as  we  are ;  tempted  like  our- 
selves ;  inspired  as  we  may  be  if  we  will  pay  the  price. 
Each  of  the  former  parties  believed  its  doctrine  on  this 


CHRISTIANITY.  305 

head  was  infallibly  true,  and  formed  the  very  substance 
of  Christianity,  and  was  one  of  the  essential  conditions  of 
salvation,  though  scarce  any  two  distinguished  teachers, 
of  ancient  or  modern  times,  agree  in  their  expression  of 
this  truth. 

Almost  every  sect  that  has  ever  been  makes  Chris- 
tianity rest  on  the  personal  authority  of  Jesus,  and  not 
the  immutable  truth  of  the  doctrines  themselves,  or  the 
authority  of  God,  who  sent  him  into  the  world.  Yet  it 
seems  difficult  to  conceive  any  reason  why  moral  and 
religious  truths  should  rest  for  their  support  on  the 
personal  authority  of  their  revealer,  any  more  than  the 
truths  of  science  on  that  of  him  who  makes  them  known 
first  or  most  clearly.  It  is  hard  to  see  why  the  great 
truths  of  Christianity  rest  on  the  personal  authority  of 
Jesus,  more  than  the  axioms  of  geometry  rest  on  the 
personal  authority  of  Euclid  or  Archimedes.  The  au- 
thority of  Jesus,  as  of  all  teachers,  one  would  naturally 
tliink,  must  rest  on  the  truth  of  his  words,  and  not  their 
truth  on  his  authority. 

Opinions  respecting  the  nature  of  Christ  seem  to  be 
constantly  changing.  In  the  three  first  centuries  after 
Christ,  it  appears,  great  latitude  of  speculation  prevailed. 
Some  said  he  was  God,  with  nothing  of  human  nature, 
his  body  only  an  illusion;  others,  that  he  was  man, 
with  nothing  of  the  divine  nature,  his  miraculous  birth 
having  no  foundation  in  fact.  In  a  few  centuries  it  was 
decreed  by  councils  that  he  was  God,  thus  honoring  the 
divine  element;  next,  that  he  was  man  also,  thus  ad- 
mitting the  human  side.  For  some  ages  the  Catholic 
Church  seems  to  have  dwelt  chiefly  on  the  divine  nature 
that  was  in  him,  leaving  the  liuman  element  to  mystics 
and  other  heretical  persons,  whose  bodies  served  to  flesh 
the  swords  of  orthodox  believers.     The  stream  of  Chris- 

20 


306  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

tianity  has  come  to  us  in  two  channels,  —  one  within  the 
church,  the  other  without  the  church,  —  and  it  is  not 
hazarding  too  much  to  say  that  since  the  fourth  century 
the  true  Christian  life  has  been  out  of  the  established 
church,  and  not  in  it,  but  rather  in  the  ranks  of  dissen- 
ters. From  the  Reformation  till  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century,  we  are  told,  the  Protestant  Church  dwelt 
chiefly  on  the  human  side  of  Christ,  and  since  that  time 
many  works  have  been  written  to  show  how  the  two  — 
perfect  Deity  and  perfect  manhood  —  were  united  in  his 
character.  But,  all  this  time,  scarce  any  two  eminent 
teachers  agree  on  these  points,  however  orthodox  they 
may  be  called.  What  a  difference  between  the  Christ 
of  John  Gerson  and  John  Calvin,  yet  were  both  accepted 
teachers  and  pious  men.  What  a  difference  between  the 
Christ  of  the  Unitarians  and  the  Methodists,  yet  may 
men  of  both  sects  be  true  Christians  and  acceptable  with 
God.  What  a  difference  between  the  Christ  of  Matthew 
and  John,  yet  both  were  disciples,  and  their  influence 
is  wide  as  Christendom  and  deep  as  the  heart  of  man. 
But  on  this  there  is  not  time  to  enlarge. 

Now,  it  seems  clear  that  the  notions  men  form  about 
the  origin  and  nature  of  the  Scriptures,  respecting  the 
nature  and  authority  of  Christ,  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Christianity  except  as  its  aids  or  its  adversaries ;  they 
are  not  the  foundation  of  its  truths.  These  are  theol- 
logical  questions,  not  religious  questions.  Their  con- 
nection with  Christianity  appears  accidental :  for  if 
Jesus  had  taught  at  Athens,  and  not  at  Jerusalem ;  if 
he  had  wrought  no  miracle,  and  none  but  the  human 
nature  had  ever  been  ascribed  to  him ;  if  the  Old  Testa- 
ment had  forever  perished  at  his  birth,  —  Christianity 
would  still  have  been  the  word  of  God ;  it  would  have 
lost  none  of  its  truths.     It  would  be  just  as  true,  just  as 


CHRISTIANITY.  307 

beautiful,  just  as  lasting,  as  now  it  is ;  though  we  should 
have  lost  so  many  a  blessed  word,  and  the  work  of 
Christianity  itself  would  have  been,  perhaps,  a  long  time 
retarded. 

,  To  judge  the  future  by  the  past,  the  former  authority 
of  the  Old  Testament  can  never  return.  Its  present  au- 
thority cannot  stand.  It  must  be  taken  for  what  it  is 
worth.  The  occasional  folly  and  impiety  of  its  authors 
must  pass  for  no  more  than  their  value ;  while  the 
religion,  the  wisdom,  the  love,  which  make  fragrant  its 
leaves,  will  still  speak  to  the  best  hearts  as  hitherto,  and 
in  accents  even  more  divine  when  reason  is  allowed  her 
rights.  The  ancient  belief  in  the  infallible  inspiration 
of  each  sentence  of  the  New  Testament  is  fast  changing, 
very  fast.  One  writer,  not  a  sceptic,  but  a  Christian  of 
unquestioned  piety,  sweeps  off  the  beginning  of  Matthew ; 
another,  of  a  different  church  and  equally  religious,  the 
end  of  John.  Numerous  critics  strike  off  several  epistles. 
The  Apocalypse  itself  is  not  spared,  notwithstanding  its 
concluding  curse.  Who  shall  tell  us  the  work  of  re- 
trenchment is  to  stop  here ;  that  others  will  not  demon- 
strate, what  some  pious  hearts  have  long  felt,  that  errors 
of  doctrine  and  errors  of  fact  may  be  found  in  many 
parts  of  the  record,  here  and  there,  from  the  beginning 
of  Matthew  to  the  end  of  Acts  ?  We  see  how  opinions 
have  changed  ever  since  the  Apostles'  time;  and  who 
shall  assure  us  that  they  were  not  sometimes  mistaken 
in  historical,  as  well  as  doctrinal  matters ;  did  not  some- 
times confound  the  actual  with  the  imaginary ;  and  that 
the  fancy  of  these  pious  writers  never  stood  in  the  place 
of  their  recollection  ? 

But  what  if  this  should  take  place  ?  Is  Christianity 
then  to  perish  out  of  the  heart  of  the  nations,  and  van- 
ish from  the  memory  of  the  world,  like  the  religions  that 


308  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

were  before  Abraham  ?  It  must  be  so,  if  it  rest  on  a 
foundation  which  a  scoffer  may  shake,  and  a  score  of 
pious  critics  shake  down.  But  this  is  the  foundation  of 
a  theology,  not  of  Christianity.  That  does  not  rest  on 
the  decision  of  Councils.  It  is  not  to  stand  or  fall  with 
the  infallible  inspiration  of  a  few  Jewish  fishermen,  who 
have  writ  their  names  in  characters  of  light  all  over  the 
world.  It  docs  not  continue  to  stand  through  the  for- 
bearance of  some  critic,  who  can  cut  when  he  will  the 
thread  on  which  its  life  depends.  Christianity  does  not 
rest  on  the  infallible  authority  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  depends  on  this  collection  of  books  for  the  historical 
statement  of  its  facts.  In  this  we  do  not  require  in- 
fallible inspiration  on  the  part  of  the  writers,  more  than 
in  the  record  of  other  historical  facts.  To  me  it  seems 
as  presumptuous,  on  the  one  hand,  for  the  believer  to 
claim  this  evidence  for  the  truth  of  Christianity,  as  it 
is  absurd,  on  the  other  hand,  for  the  sceptic  to  demand 
such  evidence  to  support  these  historical  statements. 
I  cannot  see  that  it  depends  on  the  personal  authority  of 
Jesus.  He  was  the  organ  through  which  the  Infinite 
spoke.  It  is  God  that  was  manifested  in  the  flesh  by 
him,  on  whom  rests  the  truth  which  Jesus  brought  to 
light,  and  made  clear  and  beautiful  in  his  life ;  and  if 
Christianity  be  true,  it  seems  useless  to  look  for  any 
other  authority  to  uphold  it,  as  for  some  one  to  support 
Almighty  God.  So  if  it  could  be  proved  —  as  it  cannot 
—  in  opposition  to  the  greatest  amount  of  historical 
evidence  ever  collected  on  any  similar  point,  that  the 
Gospels  were  the  fabrication  of  designing  and  artful 
men,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  had  never  lived,  still  Chris- 
tianity would  stand  firm,  and  fear  no  evil.  None  of  the 
doctrines  of  that  religion  would  fall  to  the  ground ;  for, 
if  true,  they  stand  by  themselves.     But  we  should  lose 


CHRISTIANITY.  309 

—  oh,  irreparable  loss! — the  example  of  that  character, 
so  beautiful,  so  divine,  that  no  human  genius  could  have 
conceived  it,  as  none,  after  all  the  progress  and  refine- 
ment of  eighteen  centuries,  seems  fully  to  have  compre- 
hended its  lustrous  life.  If  Christianity  were  true,  we 
should  still  think  it  was  so,  not  because  its  record  was 
written  by  infallible  pens,  nor  because  it  was  lived  out 
by  an  infallible  teacher;  but  that  it  is  true,  like  the 
axioms  of  geometry,  because  it  is  true,  and  is  to  be  tried 
by  the  oracle  God  places  in  the  breast.  If  it  rest  on  the 
personal  authority  of  Jesus  alone,  then  there  is  no  cer- 
tainty of  its  truth  if  he  were  ever  mistaken  in  the  smallest 
matter,  —  as  some  Christians  have  thought  he  was  in 
predicting  his  second  coming. 

These  doctrines  respecting  the  Scriptures  have  often 
changed,  and  are  but  fleeting.  Yet  men  lay  much  stress 
on  them.  Some  cling  to  these  notions  as  if  they  were 
Christianity  itself.  It  is  about  these  and  similar  points 
that  theological  battles  are  fought  from  age  to  age. 
Men  sometimes  use  worst  the  choicest  treasure  which 
God  bestows.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  use  men 
make  of  the  Bible.  Some  men  have  regarded  it  as  the 
heathen  their  idol,  or  the  savage  his  fetich.  They  have 
subordinated  reason,  conscience,  and  religion  to  this. 
Thus  have  they  lost  half  the  treasure  it  bears  in  its 
bosom.  No  doubt  the  time  will  come  when  its  true 
character  shall  be  felt.  Then  it  will  be  seen  that,  amid 
all  the  contradictions  of  the  Old  Testament,  —  its  legends, 
so  beautiful  as  fictions,  so  appalling  as  facts ;  amid  its 
predictions  that  have  never  been  fulfilled;  amid  the 
puerile  conceptions  of  God,  which  sometimes  occur,  and 
the  cruel  denunciations  that  disfigure  both  psalm  and 
prophecy,  —  there  is  a  reverence  for  man's  nature,  a  sub- 
lime trust  in  God,  and  a  depth  of  piety,  rarely  felt  in 


310  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

these  cold  northern  hearts  of  ours.  Then  the  devotion 
of  its  authors,  the  loftiness  of  their  aim,  and  the  majesty 
of  their  life,  will  appear  doubly  fair,  and  prophet  and 
psalmist  will  warm  our  hearts  as  never  before.  Their 
voice  will  cheer  the  young,  and  sanctify  the  gray-headed ; 
will  charm  us  in  the  toil  of  life,  and  sweeten  the  cup 
death  gives  us  when  he  comes  to  shake  off  this  mantle 
of  flesh.  Then  will  it  be  seen  that  the  words  of  Jesus 
are  the  music  of  heaven  sung  in  an  earthly  voice,  and 
that  the  echo  of  these  words  in  John  and  Paul  owe  their 
efficacy  to  their  truth  and  their  depth,  and  to  no  acci- 
dental matter  connected  therewith.  Then  can  the  Word, 
which  was  in  the  beginning  and  now  is,  find  access  to 
the  innermost  heart  of  man,  and  speak  there  as  now  it 
seldom  speaks.  Then  shall  the  Bible  —  which  is  a  whole 
library  of  the  deepest  and  most  earnest  thoughts  and 
feelings,  and  piety,  and  love,  ever  recorded  in  human 
speech  —  be  read  oftener  than  ever  before,  —  not  with 
superstition,  but  with  reason,  conscience,  and  faith,  fully 
active.  Then  shall  it  sustain  men  bowed  down  with 
many  sorrows;  rebuke  sin,  encourage  virtue,  sow  the 
world  broadcast  and  quick  with  the  seed  of  love,  that 
man  may  reap  a  harvest  for  life  everlasting. 

With  all  the  obstacles  men  have  thrown  in  its  path, 
how  much  has  the  Bible  done  for  mankind.  No  abuse 
has  deprived  us  of  all  its  blessings.  You  trace  its  path 
across  the  world  from  the  day  of  Pentecost  to  this  day. 
As  a  river  springs  up  in  the  heart  of  a  sandy  continent, 
having  its  father  in  the  skies,  and  its  birth-place  in  dis- 
tant unknown  mountains ;  as  the  stream  rolls  on,  en- 
larging itself,  making  in  that  arid  waste  a  belt  of  verdure 
wherever  it  turns  its  way ;  creating  palm  groves  and 
fertile  plains,  where  the  smoke  of  the  cottager  curls  up 
at  eventide,  and  marble  cities  send  the  gleam  of  their 


CHRISTIANITY.  311 

splendor  far  into  the  sky,  —  such  has  been  the  course  of 
the  Bible  on  the  earth.  Despite  of  idolaters  bowing  to 
the  dust  before  it,  it  has  made  a  deeper  mark  on  the 
world  than  the  rich  and  beautiful  literature  of  all  the 
heatlien.  The  first  book  of  the  Old  Testament  tells  man 
he  is  made  in  the  image  of  God ;  the  first  of  the  New- 
Testament  gives  us  the  motto,  Be  perfect  as  your  Father 
in  heaven.  Higher  words  were  never  spoken.  How  the 
truths  of  the  Bible  have  blessed  us  !  There  is  not  a  boy 
on  all  the  hills  of  New  England ;  not  a  girl  born  in  the 
filthiest  cellar  which  disgraces  a  capital  in  Europe,  and 
cries  to  God  against  the  barbarism  of  modern  civilization ; 
not  a  boy  nor  a  girl  all  Christendom  through,  but  their 
lot  is  made  better  by  that  great  book. 

Doubtless  the  time  will  come  when  men  shall  see 
Christ  also  as  he  is.  Well  might  he  still  say,  "  Have  I 
been  so  long  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known 
me  ?  "  No  !  we  have  made  him  an  idol,  have  bowed  the 
knee  before  him,  saying,  "  Hail,  king  of  the  Jews ! " 
called  him  "  Lord,  Lord ! "  but  done  not  the  things 
which  he  said.  The  history  of  the  Christian  world 
might  well  be  summed  up  in  one  word  of  the  evange- 
list —  "  and  there  they  crucified  him  ; "  for  there  has 
never  been  an  age  when  men  did  not  crucify  the  Son  of 
God  afresh.  But  if  error  prevail  for  a  time  and  grow 
old  in  the  world,  truth  will  triumph  at  the  last,  and  then 
we  shall  see  the  Son  of  God  as  he  is.  Lifted  up,  he  shall 
draw  all  nations  unto  him.  Then  will  men  understand 
the  word  ot  Jesus,  which  shall  not  pass  away.  Then 
shall  we  see  and  love  the  divine  life  that  he  lived.  How 
vast  has  his  influence  been  !  How  his  spirit  wrought  in 
the  hearts  of  his  disciples,  rude,  selfish,  bigoted,  as  at 
first  they  were  !  How  it  has  wrought  in  the  world ! 
His  words  judge  the  nations.     The  wisest  son  of  man 


312  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

has  not  measured  their  height.  They  speak  to  what  is 
deepest  in  profound  men,  what  is  hoHest  in  good  men, 
what  is  divinest  in  religious  men.  They  kindle  anew  the 
flame  of  devotion  in  hearts  long  cold.  They  are  spirit 
and  life.  His  truth  was  not  derived  from  Moses  and 
Solomon ;  but  the  light  of  God  shone  through  him,  not 
colored,  not  bent  aside.  His  life  is  the  perpetual  rebuke 
of  all  time  since.  It  condemns  ancient  civilization  ;  it 
condemns  modern  civilization.  Wise  men  we  have  since 
had,  and  good  men  ;  but  this  Galilean  youth  strode  be- 
fore the  world  whole  thousands  of  years,  so  much  of 
divinity  was  in  him.  His  words  solve  the  questions  of 
this  present  age.  In  him  the  Godlike  and  the  human 
met  and  embraced,  and  a  divine  life  was  born.  Measure 
him  by  the  world's  'greatest  sons  —  how  poor  they  are  ! 
Try  him  by  the  best  of  men  —  how  little  and  low  they 
appear !  Exalt  him  as  much  as  we  may,  we  shall  yet 
perhaps  come  short  of  the  mark.  But  still  was  he  not 
our  brother  ;  the  son  of  man,  as  we  are  ;  the  son  of 
God,  like  ourselves  ?  His  excellence  —  was  it  not  hu- 
man excellence  ?  His  wisdom,  love,  piety,  —  sweet  and 
celestial  as  they  were,  —  are  they  not  what  we  also  may 
attain  ?  In  him,  as  in  a  mirror,  we  may  see  the  image 
of  God,  and  go  on  from  glory  to  glory,  till  we  are  changed 
into  the  same  image,  led  by  the  spirit  which  enlightens 
the  humble.  Viewed  in  this  way,  how  beautiful  is  the 
life  of  Jesus  !  Heaven  has  come  down  to  earth,  or, 
rather,  earth  has  become  heaven.  The  Son  of  God, 
come  of  age,  has  taken  possession  of  his  birthright. 
The  brightest  revelation  is  this  of  what  is  possible  for 
all  men,  —  if  not  now,  at  least  hereafter.  How  pure  is 
his  spirit,  and  how  encouraging  its  words  !  "  Lowly 
sufferer,"  he  seems  to  say,  "  see  how  I  bore  the  cross. 
Patient  laborer,   be  strong ;    see   how  I  toiled   for  the 


CHRISTIANITY.  313 

unthankful  and  the  merciless.  Mistaken  sinner,  see  of 
what  thou  art  capable.     Rise  up,  and  be  blessed." 

But  if,  as  some  early  Christians  began  to  do,  you  take 
a  heathen  view,  and  make  him  a  God,  the  Son  of  God  in 
a  peculiar  and  exclusive  sense,  much  of  the  significance 
of  his  character  is  gone.  His  virtue  has  no  merit,  his 
love  no  feeling,  his  cross  no  burthen,  his  agony  no  pain. 
His  death  is  an  illusion,  his  resurrection  but  a  show. 
For  if  he  were  not  a  man,  but  a  god,  what  are  all  these 
things  ?  what  his  Avords,  his  life,  his  excellence  of 
achievement  ?  It  is  all  nothing,  weighed  against  the 
illimitable  greatness  of  Him  who  created  the  worlds  and 
fills  up  all  time  and  space  I  Then  his  resignation  is  no 
lesson,  his  life  no  model,  his  death  no  triumph  to  you  or 
me,  who  are  not  gods,  but  mortal  men,  that  know  not 
what  a  day  shall  bring  forth,  and  walk  by  faith  "  dim 
sounding  on  our  perilous  way."  Alas  !  we  liave  despaired 
of  man,  and  so  cut  off  his  brightest  hope. 

In  respect  of  doctrines  as  well  as  forms,  we  see  all  is 
transitory.  "  Everywhere  is  instability  and  insecurity." 
Opinions  have  changed  most  on  points  deemed  most 
vital.  Could  we  bring  up  a  Christian  teacher  of  any  age, 
from  the  sixth  to  the  fourteenth  century,  for  example, 
though  a  teacher  of  undoubted  soundness  of  faith,  whose 
word  filled  the  churches  of  Christendom,  clergymen 
would  scarce  allow  him  to  kneel  at  their  altar,  or  sit 
down  with  them  at  the  Lord's  table.  His  notions  of 
Christianity  could  not  be  expressed  in  our  forms,  nor 
could  our  notions  be  made  intelligible  to  his  ears.  The 
questions  of  his  age,  those  on  which  Christianity  was 
thought  to  depend,  —  questions  which  perplexed  and 
divided  the  subtle  doctors,  —  are  no  questions  to  us. 
The  quarrels  which  then  drove  wise  men  mad  now  only 
excite  a  smile  or  a  tear,  as  we  are  disposed  to  laugh  or 


314  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

weep  at  the  frailty  of  man.  We  have  other  straws  of  our 
own  to  quarrel  for.  Their  ancient  books  of  devotion  do 
not  speak  to  us ;  their  theology  is  a  vain  word.  To  look 
back  but  a  short  period,  —  the  theological  speculations 
of  our  fathers  during  the  last  two  centuries,  their  "  prac- 
tical divinity,"  even  the  sermons  written  by  genius  and 
piety,  are,  with  rare  exceptions,  found  unreadable  ;  such 
a  change  is  there  in  the  doctrines. 

Now  who  shall  tell  us  that  the  change  is  to  stop  here ; 
that  this  sect  or  that,  or  even  all  sects  united,  have  ex- 
hausted the  river  of  life,  and  received  it  all  in  their  can- 
onized urns,  so  that  we  need  draw  no  more  out  of  the 
eternal  well,  but  get  refreshment  nearer  at  hand  ?  Who 
shall  tell  us  that  another  age  will  not  smile  at  our  doc- 
trines, disputes,  and  unchristian  quarrels  about  Chris- 
tianity, and  make  wide  the  mouth  at  men  who  walked 
brave  in  orthodox  raiment,  delighting  to  blacken  tlie 
names  of  heretics,  and  repeat  again  the  old  charge,  "  He 
hath  blasphemed "  ?  Who  shall  tell  us  they  will  not 
weep  at  the  folly  of  all  such  as  fancied  truth  shone  only 
into  the  contracted  nook  of  their  school,  or  sect,  or  co- 
terie ?  Men  of  other  times  may  look  down  equally  on 
the  heresy-hunters,  and  men  hunted  for  heresy,  and 
wonder  at  both.  The  men  of  all  ages  before  us  were 
quite  as  confident  as  we,  that  their  opinion  was  truth, 
that  their  notion  was  Christianity  and  the  whole  thereof. 
The  men  who  lit  the  fires  of  persecution,  from  the  first 
martyr  to  Christian  bigotry  down  to  the  last  murder  of 
the  innocents,  had  no  doubt  their  opinion  was  divine. 
The  contest  about  transubstantiation,  and  the  immacu- 
late purity  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, was  waged  with  a  bitterness  unequalled  in  these 
days.  The  Protestant  smiles  at  one,  the  Catholic  at  the 
other,  and  men  of  sense  wonder  at  both.     It  might  teach 


CHRISTIANITY.  315 

US  all  a  lesson,  at  least  of  forbearance.  No  doubt  an 
age  will  come  in  which  ours  shall  be  reckoned  a  period 
of  darkness,  like  the  sixth  century,  —  when  men  groped 
for  the  wall,  but  stumbled  and  fell,  because  they  trusted 
a  transient  notion,  not  an  eternal  truth ;  an  age  when 
temples  were  full  of  idols,  set  up  by  human  folly;  an 
age  in  w^hich  Christian  light  had  scarce  begun  to  shine 
into  men's  hearts.  But  while  this  change  goes  on,  while 
one  generation  of  opinions  passes  away,  and  another 
rises  up,  Christianity  itself,  that  pure  religion,  which  ex- 
ists eternal  in  the  constitution  of  the  soul  and  the  mind 
of  God,  is  always  the  same.  The  Word  that  was  before 
Abraham,  in  the  very  beginning,  will  not  change,  for 
that  Word  is  truth.  From  this  Jesus  subtracted  noth- 
ing ;  to  this  he  added  nothing.  But  he  came  to  reveal 
it  as  the  secret  of  God,  that  cunning  men  could  not  un- 
derstand, but  which  filled  the  souls  of  men  meek  and 
lowly  of  heart.  This  truth  we  owe  to  God  ;  the  revela- 
tion thereof  to  Jesus,  our  elder  brother,  God's  chosen 
son. 

To  turn  away  from  the  disputes  of  the  Catholics  and 
the  Protestants,  of  the  Unitarian  and  the  Trinitarian,  of 
old  school  and  new  school,  and  come  to  the  plain  words 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, —  Christianity  is  a  simple  thing, 
very  simple.  It  is  absolute,  pure  morality  ;  absolute, 
pure  religion,  —  the  love  of  man ;  the  love  of  God  acting 
without  let  or  hindrance.  The  only  creed  it  lays  down 
is  the  great  truth  which  springs  up  spontaneous  in  the 
holy  heart,  —  there  is  a  God.  Its  watchword  is,  Be  per- 
fect as  your  Father  in  heaven.  The  only  form  it  de- 
mands is  a  divine  life,  —  doing  the  best  thing  in  the  best 
way,  from  the  highest  motives  ;  perfect  obedience  to  the 
great  law  of  God.  Its  sanction  is  the  voice  of  God  in 
your  heart ;  the  perpetual  presence  of  him  who  made  us 


316  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

and  the  stars  over  our  head ;  Christ  and  the  Father  abid- 
ing within  us.  All  this  is  very  simple  —  a  little  child 
can  understand  it ;  very  beautiful  —  the  loftiest  mind 
can  find  nothing  so  lovely.  Try  it  by  reason,  con- 
science, and  faith,  —  things  highest  in  man's  nature, — ■ 
we  see  no  redundance,  we  feel  no  deficiency.  Examine 
the  particular  duties  it  enjoins,  —  humility,  reverence, 
sobriety,  gentleness,  charity,  forgiveness,  fortitude,  res- 
ignation, faith,  and  active  love  ;  try  the  whole  extent  of 
Christianity,  so  well  summed  up  in  the  command,  "  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind ;  thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself ;  "  and  is  there  anything  therein  that 
can  perish  ?  No,  the  very  opponents  of  Christianity 
have  rarely  found  fault  with  the  teachings  of  Jesus. 
The  end  of  Christianity  seems  to  be  to  make  all  men 
one  with  God  as  Christ  was  one  with  him ;  to  bring 
them  to  such  a  state  of  obedience  and  goodness  that  we 
shall  think  divine  thoughts  and  feel  divine  sentiments, 
and  so  keep  the  law  of  God  by  living  a  life  of  truth  and 
love.  Its  means  are  purity  and  prayer  ;  getting  strength 
from  God,  and  using  it  for  our  fellow-men  as  well  as 
ourselves.  It  allows  perfect  freedom.  It  does  not  de- 
mand all  men  to  thitik  alike,  but  to  think  uprightly,  and 
get  as  near  as  possible  at  truth ;  not  all  men  to  live 
alike,  but  to  live  holy,  and  get  as  near  as  possible  to  a 
life  perfectly  divine.  Christ  set  up  no  Pillars  of  Hercu- 
les, beyond  which  men  must  not  sail  the  sea  in  quest  of 
truth.  He  says,  "  I  have  many  things  to  say  unto  you, 
but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now.  .  .  .  Greater  works  than 
these  shall  ye  do."  Christianity  lays  no  rude  hand  on 
the  sacred  peculiarity  of  individual  genius  and  character. 
But  there  is  no  Christian  sect  which  does  not  fetter  a 
man.     It  would  make  all  men  think  alike,  or  smother 


CHRISTIANITY.  317 

their  conviction  in  silence.  "Were  all  men  Quakers  or 
Catholics,  Unitarians  or  Baptists,  there  would  be  much 
less  diversity  of  thought,  character,  and  life,  less  of  truth 
active  in  the  world,  than  now.  But  Christianity  gives 
us  the  largest  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God ;  and  were  all 
men  Christians  after  the  fashion  of  Jesus,  this  variety 
would  be  a  thousand  times  greater  than  now  ;  for  Chris- 
tianity is  not  a  system  of  doctrines,  but  rather  a  method 
of  attaining  oneness  with  God.  It  demands,  therefore, 
a  good  life  of  piety  within,  of  purity  without,  and  gives 
the  promise  that  whoso  does  God's  will  shall  know  of 
God's  doctrine. 

In  an  age  of  corruption,  as  all  ages  are,  Jesus  stood 
and  looked  up  to  God.  There  was  nothing  between 
him  and  the  Father  of  all;  no  old  world,  be  it  of  Moses 
or  Esaias,  of  a  living  Rabbi  or  Sanhedrim  of  Rabbis ; 
no  sin  or  perverseness  of  the  finite  will.  As  the  re- 
sult of  this  virgin  purity  of  soul  and  perfect  obedience, 
the  light  of  God  shone  down  into  the  very  deeps  of  his 
soul,  bringing  all  of  the  Godhead  which  flesh  can  re- 
ceive. He  would  have  us  do  the  same ;  worship  with 
nothing  between  us  and  God ;  act,  think,  feel,  live,  in 
perfect  obedience  to  him  :  and  we  never  are  Christians 
as  he  was  the  Christ,  until  we  worship,  as  Jesus  did, 
with  no  mediator,  with  nothing  between  us  and  the 
Father  of  all.  He  felt  that  God's  word  was  in  him ; 
that  he  was  one  with  God.  He  told  what  he  saw,  —  the 
truth  ;  he  lived  what  he  felt,  —  a  life  of  love.  The  truth 
he  brought  to  light  must  have  been  always  the  same 
before  the  eyes  of  all-seeing  God,  nineteen  centuries  be- 
fore Christ,  or  nineteen  centuries  after  liim.  A  life  su}> 
ported  by  the  principle  and  quickened  by  the  sentiment 
of  religion,  if  true  to  both,  is  always  the  same  thing 
in   Nazareth  or  New  Endand.     Now  that  divine  man 


318  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

received  these  truths  from  God  ;  was  illumined  more 
clearly  by  "  the  light  that  lighteneth  every  man  ;  "  com- 
bined or  involved  all  the  truths  of  religion  and  morality 
in  his  doctrine,  and  made  them  manifest  in  his  life. 
Then  his  words  and  example  passed  into  the  world,  and 
can  no  more  perish  than  the  stars  be  wiped  out  of  the 
sky.  The  truths  he  taught ;  his  doctrines  respecting 
man  and  God  ;  the  relation  between  man  and  man,  and 
man  and  God,  with  the  duties  that  grow  out  of  that  re- 
lation are  always  the  same,  and  can  never  change  till 
man  ceases  to  be  man,  and  creation  vanishes  into  noth- 
ing. No ;  forms  and  opinions  change  and  perish,  but 
the  word  of  God  cannot  fail.  The  form  religion  takes, 
the  doctrines  wherewith  she  is  girded,  can  never  be  the 
same  in  any  two  centuries  or  two  men ;  for  since  the 
sum  of  religious  doctrines  is  both  the  result  and  the 
measure  of  a  man's  total  growth  in  wisdom,  virtue,  and 
piety,  and  since  men  will  always  differ  in  these  respects, 
so  religious  doctrines  and /or?ws  will  always  differ,  always 
be  transient,  as  Christianity  goes  forth  and  scatters  the 
seed  she  bears  in  her  hand.  But  the  Christianity  holy 
men  feel  in  the  heart,  the  Christ  that  is  born  within  us, 
is  always  the  same  thing  to  each  soul  that  feels  it.  This 
differs  only  in  degree,  and  not  in  kind,  from  age  to  age, 
and  man  to  man.  There  is  something  in  Christianity 
which  no  sect,  from  the  "  Ebionites  "  to  the  "  Latter-Day 
Saints,"  ever  entirely  overlooked.  This  is  that  common 
Christianity  which  burns  in  the  hearts  of  pious  men. 

Real  Christianity  gives  men  new  life.  It  is  the  growth 
and  perfect  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  God  puts  into  the 
sons  of  men.  It  makes  us  outgrow  any  form  or  any 
system  of  doctrines  we  have  devised,  and  approach  still 
closer  to  the  truth.  It  would  lead  us  to  take  what  help 
we  can  find.     It  would  make  the  Bible  our  servant,  not 


CHRISTIANITY.  319 

our  master.  It  •would  teach  us  to  profit  by  the  wisdom 
and  piety  of  David  and  Solomon,  but  not  to  sin  their 
sins,  nor  bow  to  their  idols.  It  would  make  us  revere 
the  holy  words  spoken  by  "  godly  men  of  old,"  but  revere 
still  more  the  word  of  God  spoken  through  conscience, 
reason,  and  faith,  as  the  holiest  of  all.  It  would  not 
make  Christ  the  despot  of  the  soul,  but  the  brother  of 
all  men.  It  would  not  tell  us  that  even  he  had  exhausted 
the  fulness  of  God,  so  that  he  could  create  none  greater ; 
for  with  him  "  all  things  are  possible,"  and  neither  Old 
Testament  nor  New  Testament  ever  hints  that  creation 
exhausts  the  Creator.  Still  less  would  it  tell  us  the  wis- 
dom, the  piety,  the  love,  the  manly  excellence  of  Jesus, 
was  the  result  of  miraculous  agency  alone,  but  that  it 
was  won,  like  the  excellence  of  humbler  men,  by  faithful 
obedience  to  Him  who  gave  his  Son  such  ample  heritage. 
It  would  point  to  him  as  our  brother,  who  went  before, 
like  the  good  shepherd,  to  charm  us  with  the  music  of 
his  words,  and  with  the  beauty  of  his  life  to  tempt  us  up 
the  steeps  of  mortal  toil,  within  the  gate  of  heaven.  It 
would  have  us  make  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  and 
enter  more  fittingly  the  kingdom  on  high.  It  would  lead 
us  to  form  Christ  in  the  heart,  on  which  Paul  laid  such 
stress,  and  work  out  our  salvation  by  this.  For  it  is  not 
so  much  by  the  Christ  who  lived  so  blameless  and  beau- 
tiful eighteen  centuries  ago  that  we  are  saved  directly, 
but  by  the  Christ  we  form  in  our  hearts  and  live  out  in 
our  daily  life  that  we  save  ourselves,  God  working  with 
us  both  to  will  and  to  do. 

Compare  the  simpleness  of  Christianity,  as  Christ  sets 
it  forth  on  the  Mount,  with  what  is  sometimes  taught 
and  accepted  in  that  honored  name,  and  what  a  differ- 
ence !  One  is  of  God,  one  is  of  man.  There  is  some- 
thing in  Christianity  which  sects  have  not  reached,  — 


320  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

something  that  will  not  be  won,  we  fear,  by  theological 
battles,  or  the  quarrels  of  pious  men ;  still  we  may  re- 
joice that  Christ  is  preached  in  any  way.  The  Christi- 
anity of  sects,  of  the  pulpit,  of  society,  is  ephemeral,  —  a 
transitory  fly.  It  will  pass  off  and  be  forgot.  Some 
new  form  will  take  its  place,  suited  to  the  aspect  of  the 
changing  times.  Each  will  represent  something  of  truth, 
but  no  one  the  whole.  It  seems  the  whole  race  of  man 
is  needed  to  do  justice  to  the  whole  of  truth,  as  ^  the 
whole  church,  to  preach  the  whole  gospel."  Truth  is 
intrusted  for  the  time  to  a  perishable  ark  of  human  con- 
trivance. Though  often  shipwrecked,  she  always  comes 
safe  to  land,  and  is  not  changed  by  her  mishap.  That 
pure  ideal  religion  which  Jesus  saw  on  the  mount  of  his 
vision,  and  lived  out  in  the  lowly  life  of  a  Galilean 
peasant ;  which  transforms  his  cross  into  an  emblem  of 
all  that  is  holiest  on  earth  ;  which  makes  sacred  the 
ground  he  trod,  and  is  dearest  to  the  best  of  men,  most 
true  to  what  is  truest  in  them,  —  cannot  pass  away.  Let 
men  improve  never  so  far  in  civilization,  or  soar  never 
so  high  on  the  wings  of  religion  and  love,  they  can  never 
outgo  the  flight  of  truth  and  Christianity.  It  will  always 
be  above  them.  It  is  as  if  we  were  to  fly  towards  a  star, 
which  becomes  larger  and  more  bright  the  nearer  we 
approach,  till  we  enter  and  are  absorbed  in  its  glory. 

If  we  look  carelessly  on  the  ages  that  have  gone  by, 
or  only  on  the  surfaces  of  things  as  they  come  up  before 
us,  there  is  reason  to  fear  ;  for  we  confound  the  truth  of 
God  with  the  word  of  man.  So  at  a  distance  the  cloud 
and  the  mountain  seem  the  same.  When  the  drift 
changes  with  the  passing  wind,  an  unpractised  eye  might 
fancy  the  mountain  itself  was  gone.  But  the  mountain 
stands  to  catch  the  clouds,  to  win  the  blessing  they  bear, 
and  send  it  down  to  moisten  the  fainting  violet,  to  form 


CHRISTIANITY.  321 

streams  which  gladden  valley  and  meadow,  and  sweep 
on  at  last  to  the  sea  in  deep  channels,  laden  with  fleets. 
Thus  the  forms  of  the  church,  the  creeds  of  the  sects,  the 
conflicting  opinions  of  teachers,  float  round  the  sides  of 
the  Christian  mount,  and  swell  and  toss,  and  rise  and 
fall,  and  dart  their  lightning,  and  roll  their  thunder,  but 
they  neither  make  nor  mar  the  mount  itself.  Its  lofty 
summit  far  transcends  the  tumult,  knows  nothing  of  the 
storm  which  roars  below,  but  burns  with  rosy  light  at 
evening  and  at  morn,  gleams  in  the  splendors  of  the 
mid-day  sun,  sees  his  light  when  the  long  shadows  creep 
over  plain  and  moorland,  and  all  night  long  has  its  head 
in  the  heavens,  and  is  visited  by  troops  of  stars  which 
never  set,  nor  veil  their  face  to  aught  so  pure  and  high. 

Let  then  the  transient  pass,  fleet  as  it  will,  and  may 
God  send  us  some  new  manifestation  of  the  Christian 
faith,  that  shall  stir  men's  hearts  as  they  were  never 
stirred  ;  some  new  word,  which  shall  teach  us  what  we 
are,  and  renew  us  all  in  the  image  of  God  ;  some  better 
life,  that  shall  fulfil  the  Hebrew  prophecy,  and  pour  out 
the  spirit  of  God  on  young  men  and  maidens,  and  old 
men  and  children  ;  which  shall  realize  the  word  of  Christ 
and  give  us  the  Comforter,  who  shall  reveal  all  needed 
things !  There  are  Simeons  enough  in  the  cottages  and 
churches  of  New  England,  plain  men  and  pious  women, 
who  wait  for  the  consolation,  and  would  die  in  gladness 
if  their  expiring  breath  could  stir  quicker  the  wings  that 
bear  him  on.  There  are  men  enough,  sick  and  "  bowed 
down,  in  no  wise  able  to  lift  up  themselves,"  wlio  would 
be  healed  could  they  kiss  the  hand  of  their  Saviour,  or 
touch  but  the  hem  of  his  garment,  —  men  who  look  up 
and  are  not  fed,  because  they  ask  bread  from  heaven  and 
water  from  the  rock,  not  traditions  or  fancies,  Jewish  or 
heathen,  or  new  or  old  ;  men  enough  who,  with  throbbing 

21 


322  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

hearts,  pray  for  the  spirit  of  healing  to  come  upon  the 
waters,  which  other  than  angels  have  long  kept  in  trouble ; 
men  enough  who  have  lain  long  time  sick  of  theology, 
nothing  bettered  by  many  physicians,  and  are  now  dead, 
too  dead  to  bury  their  dead,  who  would  come  out  of  their 
graves  at  the  glad  tidings.  God  send  us  a  real  religious 
life,  which  shall  pluck  blindness  out  of  the  heart,  and 
make  us  better  fathers,  mothers,  and  children  !  a  relig- 
ious life  that  shall  go  with  us  where  we  go,  and  make 
every  home  the  house  of  God,  every  act  acceptable  as  a 
prayer.  We  would  work  for  this,  and  pray  for  it,  though 
we  wept  tears  of  blood  while  we  prayed. 

Such,  then,  is  the  transient,  and  such  the  permanent  in 
Christianity.  What  is  of  absolute  value  never  changes  ; 
we  may  cling  round  it  and  grow  to  it  forever.  No  one 
can  say  his  notions  shall  stand.  But  we  may  all  say 
the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  shall  never  pass  away.  Yet 
there  are  always  some,  even  religious  men,  who  do  not 
see  the  permanent  element,  so  they  rely  on  the  fleeting, 
and,  what  is  also  an  evil,  condemn  others  for  not  doing 
the  same.  They  mistake  a  defence  of  the  truth  for  an 
attack  upon  the  holy  of  holies ;  the  removal  of  a  theo- 
logical error  for  the  destruction  of  all  religion.  Already 
men  of  the  same  sect  eye  one  another  with  suspicion  and 
lowering  brows  that  indicate  a  storm,  and,  like  children 
who  have  fallen  out  in  their  play,  call  hard  names. 
Now,  as  always,  there  is  a  collision  between  these  two 
elements.  The  question  puts  itself  to  each  man,  "  Will 
you  cling  to  what  is  perishing,  or  embrace  what  is  eter- 
nal?"    This  question  each  must  answer  for  himself. 

My  friends,  if  you  receive  the  notions  about  Christi- 
anity which  chance  to  be  current  in  your  sect  or  church, 
solely  because  they  are  current,  and  thus  accept  the 
commandment  of  men  instead  of  God's  truth,  there  will 


CHRISTIANITY.  323 

always  be  enough  to  commend  you  for  soundness  of 
judgment,  prudence,  and  good  sense,  enough  to  call  you 
Christian  for  that  reason.  But  if  this  is  all  you  rely 
upon,  alas  for  you !  The  ground  will  shake  under  your 
feet  if  you  attempt  to  walk  uprightly  and  like  men. 
You  will  be  afraid  of  every  new  opinion,  lest  it  shake 
down  your  church ;  you  will  fear  "  lest  if  a  fox  go  up,  he 
will  break  down  your  stone  wall."  The  smallest  contra- 
diction in  the  New  Testament  or  Old  Testament,  the 
least  disagreement  between  the  law  and  the  gospel,  any 
mistake  of  the  apostles,  will  weaken  your  faith.  It  shall 
be  with  you  "  as  when  a  hungry  man  dreameth,  and 
behold,  he  eateth;  but  he  awaketh,  and  his  soul  is 
empty." 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  take  the  true  word  of  God, 
and  live  out  this,  nothing  shall  harm  you.  Men  may 
mock,  but  their  mouthfuls  of  wind  shall  be  blown  back 
upon  their  own  face.  If  the  master  of  the  house  were 
called  Beelzebub,  it  matters  little  what  name  is  given  to 
the  household.  The  name  Christian,  given  in  mockery, 
w^ll  last  till  the  world  go  down.  He  that  loves  God  and 
man,  and  lives  in  accordance  with  that  love,  needs  not 
fear  what  man  can  do  to  him.  His  religion  comes  to 
him  in  his  hour  of  sadness,  it  lays  its  hand  on  him  when 
he  has  fallen  among  thieves,  and  raises  him  up,  heals 
and  comforts  him.  If  he  is  crucified,  he  shall  rise 
again. 

My  friends,  you  this  day  receive,  with  the  usual  for- 
malities, the  man  you  have  chosen  to  speak  to  you  on 
the  highest  of  all  themes,  —  what  concerns  your  life  on 
earth,  your  life  in  heaven.  It  is  a  work  for  which  no 
talents,  no  prayerful  diligence,  no  piety  is  too  great; 
an  office  that  would  dignify  angels,  if  worthily  filled.  If 
the  eyes  of  this  man  be  holden,  that  he  cannot  discern 


324  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

between  the  perishing  and  the  true,  you  will  hold  him 
guiltless  of  all  sin  in  this ;  but  look  for  light  where  it 
can  be  had,  for  his  office  will  then  be  of  no  use  to  you. 
But  if  he  sees  the  truth,  and  is  scared  by  worldly  motives, 
and  will  not  tell  it,  alas  for  him !  If  the  watchman  see 
the  foe  coming  and  blow  not  the  trumpet,  the  blood  of 
the  innocent  is  on  him. 

Your  own  conduct  and  character,  the  treatment  you 
offer  this  young  man,  will  in  some  measure  influence 
him.  The  hearer  affects  the  speaker.  There  were 
some  places  where  even  Jesus  "  did  not  many  mighty 
works,  because  of  their  unbelief."  Worldly  motives  — 
not  seeming  such  —  sometimes  deter  good  men  from 
their  duty.  Gold  and  ease  have,  before  now,  enervated 
noble  minds.  Daily  contact  with  men  of  low  aims  takes 
down  the  ideal  of  life,  which  a  bright  spirit  casts  out 
of  itself.  Terror  has  sometimes  palsied  tongues  that, 
before,  were  eloquent  as  the  voice  of  persuasion.  But 
thereby  truth  is  not  holden.  She  speaks  in  a  thousand 
tongues,  and  with  a  pen  of  iron  graves  her  sentence 
on  the  rock  forever.  You  may  prevent  the  freedom  of 
speech  in  this  pulpit  if  you  will.  You  may  hire  you 
servants  to  preach  as  you  bid ;  to  spare  your  vices,  and. 
flatter  your  follies ;  to  prophesy  smooth  things,  and  say. 
It  is  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace.  Yet  in  so  doing 
you  weaken  and  enthrall  yourselves.  And  alas  for  that 
man  who  consents  to  think  one  thing  in  his  closet  and 
preach  another  in  his  pulpit !  God  shall  judge  him  in 
his  mercy,  not  man  in  his  wrath.  But  over  his  study 
and  over  his  pulpit  might  be  writ.  Emptiness  ;  on  his 
canonical  robes,  on  his  forehead  and  right  hand.  Deceit  ! 
Deceit  ! 

But,   on   the  other  hand,  you   may  encourage   your 
brother  to  tell  you  the  truth.     Your  affection  will  then 


CHRIS  TIA  NITY.  325 

be  precious  to  liim,  your  prayers  of  great  price.  Every 
evidence  of  your  sympathy  will  go  to  baptize  him  anew  to 
holiness  and  truth.  You  will  then  have  his  best  words, 
his  brightest  thoughts,  and  his  most  hearty  prayers. 
He  may  grow  old  in  your  service,  blessing  and  blest. 
He  will  have  — 

*'  The  sweetest,  best  of  consolation, 
The  thought,  that  he  has  given. 
To  serve  the  cause  of  Heaven, 
The  freshness  of  his  early  inspiration." 

Choose  as  you  will  choose;  but  weal  or  woe  depends 
upon  your  choice. 


326  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


THE   BIBLE. 

View  it  in  what  light  we  may,  the  Bible  is  a  very  sur- 
prising phenomenon.  In  all  Christian  lands,  this  collec- 
tion of  books  is  separated  from  every  other,  and  called 
sacred ;  others  are  profane.  Science  may  differ  from 
them,  not  from  this.  It  is  deemed  a  condescension  on 
the  part  of  its  friends,  to  show  its  agreement  with  rea- 
son. How  much  has  been  written  by  condescending 
theologians  to  show  the  Bible  was  not  inconsistent  with 

•  the  demonstrations  of  Newton  !  Should  a  man  attempt 
to  re-establish  the  cosmogonies  of  Hesiod  and  Sanchonia- 
thon,  to  allegorize  the  poems  of  Anacreon  and  Theocritus 
as  divines  mystify  the  Scripture,  it  would  be  said  he 
wasted  his  oil,  and  truly. 

This  collection  of  books  has  taken  such  a  hold  on  the 
world  as  no  other.  The  literature  of  Greece,  which  goes 
up  like  incense  from  that  land  of  temples  and  heroic 
deeds,  has  not  half  the  influence  of  this  book  from  a 
nation  alike  despised  in  ancient  and  modern  times.  It 
is  read  of  a  Sunday  in  all  the  thirty  thousand  pulpits  of 
-our  land.     In  all  the  temples  of  Christendom  is  its  voice 

•  lifted  up,  week  by  week.-  The  sun  never  sets  on  its 
gleaming  page.     It  goes  equally  to  the  cottage  of  the 

■  plain  man  and  the  palace  of  the  king.  It  is  woven  into 
the  literature  of  the  scholar,  and  colors  the  talk  of  the 
street.  The  bark  of  the  merchant  cannot  sail  the  sea 
without  it ;  no  ship  of  war  goes  to  the  conflict  but  the 
Bible  is  there !  It  enters  men's  closets ;  mingles  in  all 
the  grief  and  cheerfulness  of  life.     The  affianced  maiden 


THE  BIBLE.  327 

prays  God  in  Scripture  for  strength  in  her  new  duties ; 
men  are  married  by  Scripture.  The  Bible  attends  them 
in  their  sickness ;  when  the  fever  of  the  world  is  on 
them,  the  aching  head  finds  a  softer  pillow  if  such  leaves  • 
lie  underneath.  The  mariner,  escaping  from  shipwreck, 
clutches  this  first  of  his  treasures,  and  keeps  it  sacred 
to  God.  It  goes  with  the  peddler,  in  his  crowded  pack ; 
cheers  him  at  eventide,  when  he  sits  down  dusty  and 
fatigued ;  brightens  the  freshness  of  his  morning  face. 
It  blesses  us  when  we  are  born ;  gives  names  to  half 
Christendom ;  rejoices  with  us ;  has  sympathy  for  our 
mourning ;  tempers  our  grief  to  finer  issues.  It  is  the 
better  part  of  our  sermons.  It  lifts  man  above  himself ; 
our  best  of  uttered  prayers  are  in  its  storied  speech, 
wherewith  our  fathers  and  the  patriarchs  prayed.  The 
timid  man,  about  awaking  from  this  dream  of  life,  looks  ■ 
through  the  glass  of  Scripture  and  his  eye  grows  bright ; 
he  does  not  fear  to  stand  alone,  to  tread  the  way  unknown 
and  distant,  to  take  the  death-angel  by  the  hand  and  bid 
farewell  to  wife,  and  babes,  and  home.  Men  rest  on  this 
their  dearest  hopes.  It  tells  them  of  God,  and  of  his 
blessed  Son ;  of  earthly  duties  and  of  heavenly  rest. 
Foolish  men  find  it  the  source  of  Plato's  wisdom,  and 
the  science  of  Newton,  and  the  art  of  Raphael ;  wicked 
men  use  it  to  rivet  the  fetters  on  the  slave.  Men  who 
believe  nothing  else  that  is  spiritual  believe  the  Bible 
all  through ;  without  this  they  would  not  confess,  say 
they,  even  that  there  was  a  God. 

Now,  for  such  effects  there  must  be  an  adequate  cause. 
That  nothing  comes  of  nothing  is  true  all  the  world  over. 
It  is  no  liglit  thing  to  hold  with  an  electric  chain  a  thou- 
sand hearts,  though  but  an  hour,  beating  and  bounding 
with  such  fiery  speed.  What  is  it  then  to  hold  the 
Christian  world,  and  that  for  centuries?     Are  men  fed 


328  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

with  chaff  and  husks?  The  authors  we  reckon  great, 
whose  word  is  in  the  newspaper  and  the  market-place, 
whose  articulate  breath  now  sways  the  nation's  mind, 
will  soon  pass  away,  giving  place  to  other  great  men  of 
a  season,  who  in  their  turn  shall  follow  them  to  eminence, 
and  then  oblivion.  Some  thousand  "  famous  writers  " 
come  up  in  this  century,  to  be  forgotten  in  the  next. 
But  the  silver  cord  of  the  Bible  is  not  loosed,  nor  its 
golden  bowl  broken,  as  Time  chronicles  his  tens  of  cen- 
turies passed  by.  Has  the  human  race  gone  mad  ?  Time 
sits  as  a  refiner  of  metal ;  the  dross  is  piled  in  for- 
gotten heaps,  but  the  pure  gold  is  reserved  for  use,  passes 
into  the  ages,  and  is  current  a  thousand  years  hence  as 
well  as  to-day.  It  is  only  real  merit  that  can  long  pass 
for  such.  Tinsel  will  rust  in  the  storms  of  life.  False 
weights  are  soon  detected  there.  It  is  only  a  heart  that 
can  speak,  deep  and  true,  to  a  heart ;  a  mind  to  a  mind ; 
a  soul  to  a  soul ;  wisdom  to  the  wise,  and  religion  to  the 
pious.  There  must  then  be  in  the  Bible,  mind,  con- 
science, heart  and  soul,  wisdom  and  religion.  Were  it 
otherwise  how  could  millions  find  it  their  lawgiver,  friend, 
and  prophet  ?  Some  of  the  greatest  of  human  insti- 
tutions seem  built  on  the  Bible ;  such  things  will  not 
stand  on  heaps  of  chaff,  but  mountains  of  rocks. 

What  is  the  secret  cause  of  this  wide  and  deep  in- 
fluence ?  It  must  be  found  in  the  Bible  itself,  and  must 
be  adequate  to  the  effect.  To  answer  the  question  we 
must  examine  the  Bible,  and  see  whence  it  comes,  what 
it  contains,  and  by  what  authority  it  holds  its  place. 
If  we  look  superficially,  it  is  a  collection  of  books  in 
human  language,  from  different  authors  and  times ;  we 
refer  it  to  a  place  amongst  other  books,  and  proceed  to 
examine  it  as  the  works  of  Homer  and  Xenophon.  But 
the  popular  opinion  bids  us  beware,  for  we  tread  on  holy 


THE  BIBLE.  329 

ground.  The  opinion  commonly  expressed  by  the  Prot- 
estant churches  is  this :  The  Bible  is  a  miraculous  col- 
lection of  miraculous  books ;  every  word  it  contains  was 
written  by  a  miraculous  inspiration  from  God,  which 
was  so  full,  complete,  and  infallible,  that  the  authors 
delivered  the  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth ;  that  the 
Bible  contains  no  false  statement  of  doctrine  or  fact,  but 
sets  forth  all  religious  and  moral  truth  which  man  needs, 
or  which  it  is  possible  for  him  to  receive,  and  no  par- 
ticle of  error :  therefore,  that  the  Bible  is  the  only 
authoritative  rule  of  religious  faith  and  practice.  To 
doubt  this  is  reckoned  a  dangerous  error,  if  not  an  un- 
pardonable sin.  This  is  the  supernatural  view.  Some 
scholars  slyly  reject  the  divine  authority  of  the  Old 
Testament ;  others  reject  it  openly,  but  cling  strongly 
as  ever  to  the  New;  some  make  a  distinction  between 
the  genuine  and  the  spurious  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Thus  there  is  a  difference  in  the  less  or  more  of 
an  inspired  and  miraculous  canon.  The  modern  Uni- 
tarians have  perhaps  reduced  the  Scripture  to  its  lowest 
terms.  But  Protestants,  in  general,  in  America,  agree 
that  in  the  whole  or  in  part  the  Bible  is  an  infallible 
and  exclusive  standard  of  religious  and  moral  truth. 
The  Bible  is  master  to  the  soul,  —  superior  to  intellect, 
truer  than  conscience,  greater  and  more  trustworthy 
than  the  affections  and  the  soul. 

Accordingly,  with  strict  logical  consistency,  a  peculiar 
method  is  used  both  in  the  criticism  and  interpretation 
of  the  Bible ;  such  as  men  apply  to  no  other  ancient 
documents.  A  deference  is  paid  to  it  wholly  indepen- 
dent of  its  intrinsic  merit.  It  is  presupposed  that  each 
book  within  the  lids  of  the  Bible  has  an  absolute  right 
to  be  there,  and  each  sentence  or  word  therein  is  infal- 
libly true.     Reason  has  nothing  to  do  in  the  premises 


330  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

but  accept  the  written  statement  of  "  the  Word ; "  the 
duty  of  belief  is  just  the  same  whether  the  Word  con- 
tradicts reason  and  conscience,  or  agrees  with  them. 

This  opinion  about  the  Bible  is  true,  or  not  true.  If 
true  it  is  capable  of  proof,  at  least  of  being  shown  to  be 
probable.  Now  there  are  but  four  possible  ways  of  es- 
tablishing the  fact,  namely  :  — 

1.  By  the  authority  of  churches,  having  either  a  mir- 
aculous inspiration  or  a  miraculous  tradition,  to  prove 
the  alleged  infallibility  of  the  Bible.  But  the  chui'ches 
are  not  agreed  on  this  point.  The  Roman  Church  very 
stoutly  denies  the  fact,  and  besides,  the  Protestants  deny 
the  authority  of  the  Roman  Church. 

2.  By  the  direct  testimony  of  God  in  our  conscious- 
ness, assuring  us  of  the  miraculous  infallibility  of  the 

•  Bible.  This  would  be  at  the  best  one  miracle  to  prove 
another,  which  is  not  logical.     The  proof  is  only  sub- 

■  jective,  and  is  as  valuable  to  prove  the  divinity  of  the 
Koran,  the  Shaster,  and  the  Book  of  Mormon,  as  that  of 

•  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures.  It  is  the  argu- 
ment of  the  superstitious  and  enthusiastical. 

3.  By  the  fact  that  the  Bible  claims  this  divine  infal- 

•  libility.     Tliis  is  reasoning  in  a  circle,  though  it  is  the 

■  method  commonly  relied  on  by  Christians.  It  will  prove 
as  well  the  divinity  of  any  impostor  who  claims  it. 

4.  By  an  examination  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  external  history  of  its  origin.  To  proceed  in 
this  way,  we  must  ask,  Are  all  its  statements  infallibly 

■  true  ?  But  to  ask  this  question  presupposes  the  stand- 
ard-measure is  in  ourselves,  not  in  the  Bible  ;  so  at  the 
utmost  the  book  can  be  no  more  infallible,  and  have  no 
more  authority,  than  reason  and  the  moral  sense  by 
which  we  try  it.     A  single  mistake  condemns  its  infalli- 

•  bility,  and  of  course  its  divinity.     But  the  case  is  still 


THE  BIBLE.  331 

worse.  After  the  truth  of  a  book  is  made  out,  before  a 
work  in  human  Language,  like  other  books,  can  be  re- 
ferred to  God  as  its  author,  one  of  two  things  must  be 
shown  :  either  that  its  contents  could  not  have  come 
from  man,  —  and  then  it  follows  by  implication  that  they 
came  from  God,  —  or  that  at  a  certain  time  and  place, 
God  did  miraculously  reveal  the  contents  of  the  book. 

Now  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  first,  that  it  has  not  been  ■ 
and  cannot  be  proved  that  every  statement  in  the  Bible 
is  true ;  or,  secondly,  that  its  contents,  such  as  they  are, 
could  not  have  proceeded  from  man,  under  t\\e  ordinary 
influence  of  God  ;  or,  finally,  that  any  one  book  or  word 
of  the  Bible  was  miraculously  revealed  to  man.  In  the 
absence  of  proof  for  any  one  of  these  three  points,  it  has 
been  found  a  more  convenient  way  to  assume  the  truth 
of  them  all,  and  avoid  troublesome  questions. 

Laying  aside  all  prejudices,  if  we  look  into  the  Bible 
in  a  general  way,  as  into  other  books,  we  find  facts  which 
force  the  conclusion  upon  us  that  the  Bible  is  a  human 
work,  as  much  as  the  Principia  of  Newton  or  Descartes, 
or  the  Yedas  and  Koran.  Some  things  are  beautiful  and 
true,  but  others  no  man,  in  his  reason,  can  accept.  Here 
are  the  works  of  various  writers,  from  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury before  to  the  second  century  after  Christ,  thrown 
capriciously  together,  and  united  by  no  common  tie  but 
the  lids  of  the  bookbinder.  Here  are  two  forms  of  re- 
ligion, which  differ  widely,  set  forth  and  enforced  by 
miracles ;  the  one  ritual  and  formal,  the  other  actual 
and  spiritual  ;  the  one.  the  religion  of  fear,  the  other  of 
love ;  one  final,  and  resting  entirely  on  the  special  reve- 
lation made  to  Moses,  the  other  progressive,  based  on 
the  universal  revelation  of  God,  who  enlightens  all  that 
come  into  the  world  ;  one  offers  only  earthly  recom- 
pense, the  other  makes  immortality  a  motive  to  a  divine 


332  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

■  life ;  one  compels  men,  the  other  invites   them.      One 

•  half  the  Bible  repeals  the  other  half.  The  gospel  an- 
nihilates the  law ;  the  apostles  take  the  place  of  the 
prophets,  and  go  higher  up.     If  Christianity  and  Juda- 

■  ism  be  not  the  same  thing,  there  must  be  hostility  be- 
tween the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testament,  for 

■  the  Jewish  form  claims  to  be  eternal.  To  an  unpreju- 
diced man  this  hostility  is  very  obvious.  It  may  indeed 
be  said,  Christianity  came  not  to  destroy  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  but  to  fulfil  them ;  and  the  answer  is  plain,  — 

•  their  historic  fulfilment  was  their  destruction. 

If  we  look  at  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  we  find  numerous 
contradictions  ;  conflicting  histories  which  no  skill  can 
reconcile  with  themselves  or  with  facts ;  poems  which 
the   Christians   have  agreed   to  take   as   histories,  but 

•  which  lead  only  to  confusion  on  that  hypothesis  ;  proph- 
ecies that  have  never  been  fulfilled,  and  from  the  nature 

■  of  things  never  can  be.  We  find  stories  of  miracles 
which  could  not  have  happened ;  accounts  which  repre- 
sent the  laws  of  nature  completely  transformed,  as  in 
fairy-land,  —  to  trust  the  tales   of  the  old  romancers; 

•  stories  that  make  God  a  man  of  war,  cruel,  capricious, 

•  revengeful,  hateful,  and  not  to  be  trusted.  We  find  am- 
atory songs,  selfish  proverbs,  sceptical  discourses,  and 
the  most  awful  imprecations  human  fancy  ever  clothed 

■  in  speech.  Connected  with  these  are  lofty  thoughts  of 
nature,  man,  and  God ;  devotion  touching  and  beautiful, 

■  and  a  most  reverent  faith.  Here  are  works  whose  au- 
thors  are   known ;  others,   of  which   the   author,   age, 

•  and  country  are  alike  forgotten.  Genuine  and  spurious 
works,  religious  and  not  religious,  are  strangely  mixed. 

This  doctrine  of  the  infallible  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures has  greater  power  with  Christians  at  this  day  than 


THE  BIBLE.  333 

in  Paul's  time.  In  the  first  ages  of  Christianity  each 
apostle  was  superior  to  the  Old  Testament.  There  were 
no  Scriptures  to  rely  on,  for  the  Xew  Testament  was  not 
written,  and  the  Old  Testament  was  hostile.  The  law 
stood  in  their  way, — a  law  of  sin  and  death ;  the  greatest 
prophets  were  inferior  to  John  the  Baptist,  and  the  least 
in  the  Christian  kingdom  was  greater  than  he ;  all  before 
Jesus  were  "  thieves  and  robbers  "  in  comparison.  Yet 
Christianity  stood  without  the  New  Testament.  It  went 
forward  without  it,  made  converts,  an(f  produced  a 
wondrous  change  in  the  world.  The  Old  ■  Testament 
was  the  servant,  not  the  master  of  the  early  Christians.  ■ 
Each  church  used  what  it  saw  fit.  Some  had  the  whole 
of  the  Old  Testament,  some  but  a  part;  others  added 
the  Apocrypha ;  for  there  was  no  settled  canon  "  pub- 
lished by  authority,  and  appointed  to  be  read  in  churches." 
So  it  was  with  the  New  Testament ;  some  received  more 
than  we,  others  less.  Such  men  as  Justin,  Ignatius, 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  Origen,  refer  to  some  other 
books  just  as  they  quote  the  New  Testament.  The 
canon  of  the  New  Testament  was  less  certain  than  the  ■ 
Old.  Men  followed  usage,  tradition,  or  good  sense  in 
this  matter,  and  at  last  the  present  collection  was  fixed 
by  authority.  But  by  what  test  were  its  limits  decided  ? 
Alas,  by  no  certain  criterion. 

Let  us  look  at  things  as  they  are.  Here  is  a  col- 
lection of  ancient  books,  spurious  and  genuine,  Hebrew 
and  Greek.  The  one  part  belongs  to  a  mode  of  worship, 
formal  and  obsolete  ;  the  other  to  a  religion,  actual, 
spiritual,  still  alive.  The  one  gives  us  a  Jehovah,  jealous 
and  angry ;  the  other  a  Father,  full  of  love.  Each  writer 
in  both  divisions  proves  by  his  imperfections  that  the 
earth  did  not  formerly  produce  a  different  race  of  men. 
They  contradict  one  another,  and  some  relate  what  no 


334  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

testimony  can  render  less  than  absurd;  but  yet  all  taken 
together,  spite  of  their  imperfections  and  positive  faults, 
form  such  a  collection  of  religious  writings  as  the  world 
never  saw,  —  so  deep,  so  divine.  Are  not  the  Christian 
Gospels  and  the  Hebrew  Psalms  still  often  the  best  part 

■  of  the  Sunday  service  in  the  church?  Truly,  there  is  but 
one  religion  for  the  Jew,  the  Gentile,  and  the  Christian, 
though  many  theologies  and  ceremonies  for  each. 

Now,  unless  we  reject  this  treasure  entirely,  one  of 
two  things  must  be  done:  either  we  must  pretend  to 
believe  the  whole,  absurdities  and  all,  make  one  part 
just  as  valuable  as  the  other,  —  the  law  of  Moses  as  the 
gospel  of  Jesus,  David's  curse  as  Christ's  blessing,  —  and 
then  we  make  the  Bible  our  master,  who  puts  common 
sense  and  reason  to  silence,  and  drives  conscience  and 
the  religious  element  out  of  the  church ;  or  else  we  must 
accept  what  is  true,  good,  and  divine  therein,  —  take 
each  part  for  what  it  is  worth,  gather  the  good  together, 
and  leave  the  bad  to  itself,  —  and  then  we  make  the 
Bible  our  servant  and  helper,  who  assists  common-sense 
and  reason,  stimulates  conscience  and  religion,  co-working 
with  them  all.     A  third  thing  is  not  possible. 

Which  shall  be  done  ?  The  practical  answer  was  given 
long  ago ;  it  has  always  been  given  except  in  times  of 
fanatical  excitement.  Because  there  is  chaff  and  husks 
in  the  Bible,  are  we  to  eat  of  them,  when  there  is  bread 
enough  and  to  spare  ?  Pious  men  neglect  what  does 
not  edify.  Who  reads  gladly  the  curses  of  the  Psalmist, 
—  chapters  that  make  God  a  man  of  war,  a  jealous  God, 
the  butcher  of  the  nations  ?  Certainly  but  few ;  let  them 
be  exhorted  to  repentance.  Men  cannot  gather  grapes 
of  thorns,  grasp  them  never  so  lovingly  ;  honest  men 
will  leave  the  thorns,  or  pluck  them  up.     Now  criticism, 

■  which  the  thinking  character  of  the  age  demands,  asks 


THE  BIBLE.  335 

men  to  do  consciously  and  thoroughly  what  they  have 
always  done  impcricetly  and  with  no  science  but  that  of 
a  pious  heart, — that  is,  to  divide  the  word  rightly;  sepa- 
rate mythology  from  history,  fact  from  fiction,  what  is 
religious  and  of  God  from  what  is  earthly  and  not  of 
God ;  to  take  the  Bible  for  what  it  is  worth.  Fearful 
of  the  issue,  we  may  put  off  the  question  a  few  years ; 
may  insist  as  strongly  as  ever  on  what  we  know  to  be 
false ;  ask  men  to  believe  it  because  in  the  records,  and 
thus  drive  bad  men  to  hypocrisy,  good  men  to  madness, 
and  thinking  men  to  "  infidelity  ; "  we  may  throw  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  religion  and  morality,  and  tie  the 
millstone  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  about  the 
neck  of  piety  as  before.  We  may  call  men  "  infidels  and 
atheists "  whom  reason  and  religion  compel  to  uplift 
their  voice  against  the  idolatry  of  the  church;  or  we 
may  attempt  to  smooth  over  the  matter,  and  say  nothing 
about  it,  or  not  what  we  think.  But  it  will  not  do.  The 
day  of  fire  and  fagots  is  ended;  the  toothless  "Guardian 
of  the  Faith  "  can  only  bark.  The  question  will  come, 
though  alas  for  that  man  by  whom  it  comes. 

Other  religions  have  their  sacred  books,  —  their 
Korans,  Vedas,  Shasters,  —  which  must  be  received  in 
spite  of  reason  as  masters  of  the  soul.  Some  would  put 
the  Bible  on  the  same  ground.  They  glory  in  believing 
whatever  is  prefaced  with  a  "Thus  saitli  the  Lord  ; "  but 
then  all  superiority  of  the  Bible  over  these  books  dis- 
appears forever ;  the  daylight  gives  place  to  the  shadow, 
the  law  of  sin  and  death  casts  out  the  law  of  the  spirit 
of  life.  Let  honest  reason  and  religion  pursue  their 
own  way. 

The  indolent  and  the  sensual  love  to  have  a  visible 
master   in   spiritual   things,  who  will   spare  them  the 


336  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

■  agony  of  thought.     Credulity,  ignorance,  and  supersti- 
-  tion  conjure  up  phantoms  to  attend  them.     Some  honest 

men  find  it  difficult  to  live  nobly  and  divine  ;  to  keep 
the  well  of  life  pure  and  undisturbed,  the  inward  ear 
always  open  and  quick  to  the  voice  of  God  in  the  soul. 

■  They  see,  too,  how  often  the  ignorant,  the  wicked,  the 
superstitious,  and  the  fanatical  confound  their  own  pas- 
sions with  the  still  small  voice  of  God ;  they  see  wliat 
evil,  deep  and  dreadful,  comes  of  this  confusion.  Such 
is  the  force  of  prejudice,  indolence,  habit,  they  find  it 
sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  between  right  and 
wrong;  they  love  to  lean  on  the  Most  High,  and  the 
Bible  is  declared  his  word.  They  say,  therefore,  by 
their  action,  let  us  have  some  outward  rule  and  author- 
ity, which,  being  infallible,  shall  help  the  still  smallness 
of  God's  voice  in  the  lieart ;  it  will  bless  us  when  weak ; 
we  will  make  it  our  master  and  obey  its  voice.  It  shall 
be  to  us  as  a  God,  and  we  will  fall  down  and  worship  it. 
But  alas,  it  is  not  so.  The  word  of  God  —  no  Scripture 
will  hold  that.  It  speaks  in  a  language  no  honest  mind 
can  fail  to  read.  Such  seem  the  most  prominent  causes 
that  have  made  the  Bible  an  idol  of  the  Christians. 

No  doubt  it  will  be  said,  "  Such  views  are  dangerous, 
for  the  mass  of  men  must  always  take  authority  for 
truth,  not  truth  for  authority."  But  are  they  not  true  ? 
If  so,  the  consequences  are  not  ours  ;  they  belong  to  the 
Author  of  truth,  who  can  manage  his  own  affairs,  with- 
out our  meddling.  Is  the  wrong  way  safer  than  the 
right?  No  doubt  it  was  reckoned  dangerous  to  abandon 
the  worship  of  Diana,  of  the  cross,  the  saints  and  their 
•  relics ;  but  the  world  stands,  though  "  the  image  that  fell 
down  from  Jupiter  "  is  forgotten.  If  these  doctrines  be 
true,  men  need  not  fear  they  shall  have  no  "  standard  of 
religious  faith  and  practice."     Reason,  conscience,  heart, 


THE  BIBLE.  337 

and  soul  still  remain,  —  God's  voice  in  nature  ;  his  word 
in  man.  His  laws  remain  ever  unchanged,  though  we 
set  up  our  idols  or  pluck  them  down.  We  still  have  the 
same  guide  with  Moses  and  David,  Socrates  and  Zoroas- 
ter, Paul  and  John  and  Luther,  Fenelon,  Taylor,  and 
Fox  ;  yes,  the  same  guide  that  led  Jesus,  the  first-born 
of  many  brothers,  in  his  steep  and  lonely  pilgrimage. 

This  doctrine  takes  nothing  from  the  Bible  but  its 
errors,  which  only  weaken  its  strength  ;  its  truth  re- 
mains, brilliant  and  burning  with  the  light  of  life.  It 
calls  us  away  from  each  outward  standard  to  the  eternal 
truths  of  God ;  from  the  letter  and  the  imperfect  Scrip- 
ture of  the  word  to  the  living  Word  itself.  Then  we  see 
the  true  relation  the  Bible  sustains  to  the  soul ;  the 
cause  of  the  real  esteem  in  which  it  is  held  is  seen  to  be 
in  its  moral  and  religious  truths  ;  their  power  and  love- 
liness appear.  These  have  had  the  greatest  influence  on 
the  loftiest  minds  and  the  lowliest  hearts  for  eighteen 
hundred  years.  How  they  have  written  themselves  all 
over  the  world,  deepest  in  the  best  of  men !  What 
greatness  of  soul  has  been  found  amid  the  fragrant 
leaves  of  the  Bible,  sufficient  to  lead  men  to  embrace  its 
truths,  though  at  the  expense  of  accepting  tales  which 
make  the  blood  curdle  ! 

Take  the  Bible  for  what  is  true  in  it,  and  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  is  a  grand  hymn  of  creation,  a  worthy 
prelude  of  the  sublime  chants  that  follow.  It  sings  this 
truth:  The  world  was  not  always;  is  not  the  work  of- 
chance,  but  of  the  living  God ;  all  things  are  good,  made 
to  be  blest.  The  writer,  —  who,  perhaps,  never  thought  • 
he  was  writing  "an  article  of  faith,"  —  if  he  were  a  Jev^r, 
might  superstitiously  refer  the  Sabbath  to  the  time  of 
creation  and  the  agency  of  God,  just  as  the  Greek  refers 
one  festival  to  Hercules  and  another  to  Bacchus.     Then 

22 


338  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

oriental  piety  comes  beautiful  from  the  grave  hewn  in 
the  rock  by  our  dull  theology  ;  utters  her  word  of  coun- 
sel and  hope  ;  sings  her  mythological  poem,  and  warms 
the  heart,  but  does  not  teach  theology,  or  physical 
science. 

The  sweet  notes  of  David's  prayer ;  his  mystic  hymn 
of  praise,  so  full  of  rippling  life ;  his  lofty  psalm,  which 
seems  to  unite  the  warbling  music  of  the  wind,  the  sun's 
glance,  and  the  rush  of  the  lightning ;  which  calls  on  the 
mountain  and  the  sea,  and  beast,  and  bird,  and  man,  to 
join  his  full  heart,  —  all  these  shall  be  sweet  and  eleva- 
ting, but  we  shall  leave  his  pernicious  curse  to  perish 
where  it  fell. 

The  excellence  of  the  Hebrew  devotional  hymns  has 
never  been  surpassed.  Heathenism,  Christianity,  with 
all  their  science,  arts,  literature,  bright  and  many-col- 
ored, have  little  that  approach  these.  They  are  the  de- 
spair of  imitators,  still  the  uttered  prayer  of  the  Chris- 
tian world.  Tell  us  of  Greece,  whose  air  was  redolent 
of  song  ;  its  language  such  as  Jove  might  speak  ;  its 
sages,  heroes,  poets,  honored  in  every  clime,  —  they  have 
•  no  psalm  of  prayer  and  praise  like  these  Hebrews,  the 
devoutest  of  men,  who  saw  God  always  before  them, 
ready  to  take  them  up  when  father  and  mother  let  them 
fall. 

Some  of  the  old  prophets  were  men  of  stalwart  and  ro- 
bust character,  set  off  by  a  masculine  piety  that  puts  to 
shame  our  puny  littleness  of  heart.  They  saw  hope  the 
plainest  when  danger  was  most  imminent,  and  never  de- 
spaired. Fear  of  the  people,  the  rulers,  the  priests, 
could  not  awe  them  to  silence,  nor  gold  buy  smooth 
things  from  the  prophet's  tongue.  They  left  hypocrisy, 
with  his  weeds  and  weepers,  and  feigning  but  unstained 
handkerchief,  to  follow  the  coffin  he  knew  to  be  empty, 


THE  BIBLE.  339 

and  went  their  own  way,  as  men.  What  shall  screen 
the  guilty  from  the  prophet's  word  ?  Even  David  is  met 
with  a  "  Thou  art  the  man."  What  if  they  were  stoned, 
imprisoned,  sawn  asunder  ?  It  was  a  prophet's  reward. 
They  did  not  prophesy  smooth  things ;  they  gave  the 
truth  and  took  blows,  not  asking  love  for  love.  If  these 
men  are  set  up  as  masters  of  the  soul,  justice  must 
break  her  staff  over  their  heads.  But  view  them  as  pa- 
triots whom  danger  aroused  from  the  repose  of  life  ;  as 
pious  men  awakened  by  concern  for  the  public  virtue, 
—  and  nobler  men  never  spoke  speech. 

"  Out  from  the  heart  of  nature  rolled 
The  burdens  of  the  Bible  old." 

Little  needs  now  be  said  of  the  New  Testament,  of  the 
simple  truth  that  rustles  in  its  leaves,  its  parables,  epis- 
tles, where  Paul  lifts  up  his  manly  voice,  and  John,  or 
whoso  wrote  the  words,  pours  out  the  mystic  melody  of 
his  faith.  Why  tell  the  deep  words  of  Jesus  ?  Have 
we  exhausted  their  meaning  ?  The  world  —  has  it  out- 
grown love  to  God  and  man  ?  They  still  act  in  gentle 
bosoms,  giving  strength  to  the  strong,  and  justice  and 
meekness  and  charity  and  faith  to  beautiful  souls,  long 
tried  and  oppressed.  There  is  no  need  of  new  words  to 
tell  of  this. 

Now  it  is  not  in  nature  to  respect  the  false,  and  yet 
reverence  the  true.  Call  the  Bible  master,  we  do  not 
see  the  excellence  it  has.  Take  it  as  other  books,  we 
have  its  beauty,  truth,  religion,  not  its  deformities,  fables, 
and  theology.  We  shall  not  believe  in  ghosts,  though 
Isaiah  did ;  nor  in  devils,  though  Jesus  teach  there  are 
such.  Wc  shall  see  the  excellence  of  Paul  in  his  manly 
character,  not  in  the  miracles  wrought  by  his  apron  ; 
the  nobleness  of  Jesus,  in  the  doctrine  he  taught  and 


340  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  life  he  lived,  not  in  the  walk  on  the  water  or  the 
miraculous  draughts  of  fish.  We  shall  care  little  about 
the  "  endless  genealogies  and  old-wives'  fables,"  though 
still  deemed  essential  by  many,  but  much  for  being 
good  and  doing  good.  Our  faith  —  let  him  shake  down 
the  Andes  who  has  an  arm  for  that  work. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  that  accepts  the  monstrous  pro- 
digies of  the  Gospels,  —  is  delighted  to  believe  that  Jesus 
had  divine  authority  for  laying  on  forms,  and  damning 
all  but  the  baptized ;  that  he  gave  Peter  authority  to 
bind  and  loose  on  earth  and  in  heaven ;  commanded  his 
disciples  to  make  friends  of  "  the  mammon  of  unright- 
eousness," to  tease  God,  as  an  unjust  judge,  into  com- 
pliance, with  vain  repetitions,  —  can  he  accept  the 
absolute  religion  ?  It  is  not  possible  for  a  long  time 
to  make  serious  things  of  trifles,  without  making  trifles 
of  serious  things.  Cannot  drunkenness  be  justified  out 
of  the  Old  Testament,  —  the  very  Solomon  advising  the 
poor  man  to  drown  his  sorrows  in  wine?  Jeremiah 
curses  the  man  that  will  not  fight.^  Is  not  Sarah  com- 
mended by  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  Abraham  by 
the  Sons  ?  Men  justify  slavery  out  of  the  New  Testament, 
because  Paul  had  not  his  eye  open  to  the  evil,  but  sent 

■  back  a  fugitive !  It  is  dangerous  to  rely  on  a  troubled 
fountain  for  the  water  of  life. 

The  good  influence  of  the  Bible,  past  and  present,  as 
of  all  religious  books,  rests  on  its  religious  significance. 
Its  truths  not  only  sustain  themselves,  but  the  mass  of 
errors  connected  therewith.  Truth  can  never  pass  away. 
Men  sometimes  fear  the  Bible  will  be  destroyed  by  free- 

■  dom  of  thought  and  freedom  of  speech.  Let  it  perish 
if  such  be  the  case.  Truth  cannot  fear  the  light,  nor 
are  men  so  mad  as  to  forsake  a  well  of  living  water. 

1  Proverbs  xxxvi.  6,  et  seq.  ;  Jer.  xlviii.  10. 


THE  BIBLE.  341 

All  the  free-thinking  in  the  world  could  not  destroy  the 
Iliad ;  how  much  less  the  truths  of  the  Bible.  Things 
at  last  will  pass  for  their  true  value.  The  truths  of  the 
Bible,  which  have  fed  and  comforted  the  noblest  souls 
for  so  many  centuries,  may  be  trusted  to  last  our  day. 
The  Bible  has  already  endured  the  greatest  abuse  at  the 
hands  of  its  friends,  who  make  it  an  idol,  and  would 
have  all  men  do  it  homage.  We  need  call  none  our 
Master  but  the  Father  of  all.  Yet  the  Bible,  if  wisely 
used,  is  still  a  blessed  teacher.  Spite  of  the  superstition 
and  folly  of  its  worshippers,  it  has  helped  millions  to 
that  fountain  where  Moses  and  Jesus,  with  the  holy- 
hearted  of  all  time,  have  stooped  and  been  filled.  We 
see  the  mistakes  of  its  writers,  for  though  noble  and  of 
great  stature,  they  saw  not  all  things.  We  reject  their 
follies ;  but  Iheir  words  of  truth  are  still  before  us,  to 
admonish,  to  encourage,  and  to  bless.  From  time  to 
time  God  raises  up  a  prophet  to  lead  mankind.  He 
speaks  his  word  as  it  is  given  him ;  serves  his  generation 
for  the  time,  and  falls  at  last,  when  it  is  expedient  he 
should  give  way  to  the  next  Comforter  whom  God  shall 
send.  But  mankind  is  greater  than  a  man,  and  never 
dies.  The  experience  of  the  past  lives  in  the  present. 
The  light  that  shone  at  Nineveh,  Egypt,  Judea,  Athens, 
Rome,  shines  no  more  from  those  points,  —  it  is  every- 
where. Can  Truth  decease,  and  a  good  idea  once  made 
real  ever  perish  ?  Mankind,  moving  solemnly  on  its 
appointed  road,  from  age  to  age,  passes  by  its  imper- 
fect teachers,  guided  by  their  light,  blessed  by  their  toil, 
and  sprinkled  with  their  blood.  But  Truth,  like  her 
God,  is  before  and  above  us  forever.  So  we  pass  by  the 
lamps  of  the  street,  with  wonder  at  their  light,  tliough 
but  a  smoky  glare  ;  they  seem  to  change  places  and  burn 
dim  in  the  distance  as  we  go  on ;  at  last  the  solid  walls 


342  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

of  darkness  shut  them  in.  But  high  over  our  head  are 
the  unsullied  stars,  which  never  change  their  place,  nor 
dim  their  eye.  So  the  truths  of  the  Scriptures  will  teach 
forever,  though  the  record  perish  and  its  authors  be 
forgot.  They  came  from  God,  through  the  soul  of  man. 
They  have  exhausted  neither  God  nor  the  soul.  Man 
is  greater  than  the  Bible.  That  is  one  ray  out  of  the  sun ; 
•  one  drop  from  the  infinite  ocean.  The  inward  Christ, 
which  alone  abideth  for  ever,  has  much  to  say  which 
the  Bible  never  told,  much  which  the  historical  Jesus 
never  knew.  The  Bible  is  made  for  man,  not  man  for 
the  Bible.  Its  truths  are  old  as  the  creation,  repeated 
more  or  less  purely  in  every  tongue.  Let  its  errors  and 
absurdities  no  longer  be  forced  on  the  pious  mind,  but 
perish  forever ;  let  the  word  of  God  come  through  con- 
science, reason,  and  holy  feeling,  as  light  through  the 
windows  of  morning.  Worship  with  no  master  but  God, 
no  creed  but  truth,  no  service  but  love,  and  we  have 
nothing  to  fear. 


A  SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  343 


A  SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE. 

The  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hands  of  God:  their  hope  is  full  of 
immortality.  —  Wisdom  of  Solomon  iii.  1,  4. 

It  is  the  belief  of  mankind  that  we  shall  all  live  for- 
ever. This  is  not  a  doctrine  of  Christianity  alone.  It 
belongs  to  the  human  race.  You  may  find  nations  so 
rude  that  they  live  houseless,  in  caverns  of  the  earth ; 
nations  that  have  no  letters,  not  knowing  the  use  of 
bows  and  arrows,  fire,  or  even  clothes ;  but  no  nation 
without  a  belief  in  immortal  life.  The  form  of  that  be- 
lief is  often  grotesque  and  absurd ;  the  mode  of  proof 
ridiculous ;  the  expectations  of  what  the  future  life  is  to 
be  are  often  childish  and  silly.  But  notwithstanding  all 
that,  the  fact  still  remains,  —  the  belief  that  the  soul 
of  a  man  never  dies. 

How  did  mankind  come  by  this  opinion  ?  "  By  a 
miraculous  revelation,"  says  one.  But  according  to  the 
common  theory  of  miraculous  revelations,  the  race  could 
not  have  obtained  it  in  this  way,  for  according  to  that 
theory  the  heathen  had  no  such  revelations ;  yet  we  find 
this  doctrine  the  settled  belief  of  the  whole  heathen 
world.  The  Greeks  and  Romans  believed  it  long  before 
Christ ;  the  Chaldees,  with  no  pretence  to  miraculous 
inspiration,  taught  the  idea  of  immortality ;  while  the 
Jews,  spite  of  their  alleged  revelations,  rested  only  in 
the  dim  sentiment  thereof. 

It  was  not  arrived  at  by  reasoning.  It  requires  a 
good  deal  of  hard  thinking  to  reason  out  and  prove  this 


344  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

matter.  Yet  you  find  this  belief  among  nations  not 
capable  as  yet  of  that  art  of  thinking,  and  to  that  degree, 
—  nations  who  never  tried  to  prove  it,  and  yet  believe  it 
as  confidently  as  we.  The  human  race  did  not  sit  down 
and  think  it  out ;  never  waited  till  they  could  prove  it 
by  logic  and  metaphysics ;  did  not  delay  their  belief  till 
a  miraculous  revelation  came  to  confirm  it.  It  came  to 
mankind  by  intuition ;  by  instinctive  belief,  —  the  belief 
which  comes  unavoidably  from  the  nature  of  man.  In 
this  same  way  came  the  belief  in  God,  the  love  of  man, 
the  sentiment  of  justice.  Men  could  see,  and  knew 
they  could  see,  before  they  proved  it ;  before  they  had 
theories  of  vision ;  without  waiting  for  a  miraculous  rev- 
elation to  come  and  tell  them  they  had  eyes,  and  might 
see  if  they  would  look.  Some  faculties  of  the  body  act 
spontaneously  at  first ;  so  others  of  the  spirit. 

Immortality  is  a  fact  of  man's  nature,  so  it  is  a  part  of 
the  universe,  —  just  as  the  sun  is  a  fact  in  the  heavens 
and  a  part  of  the  universe.  Both  are  writings  from 
God's  hand,  each  therefore  a  revelation  from  him,  and 
of  him,  —  only  not  miraculous,  but  natural,  regular, 
normal.  Yet  each  is  just  as  much  a  revelation  from 
him  as  if  the  great  Soul  of  all  had  spoken  in  English 
speech  to  one  of  us  and  said,  "  There  is  a  sun  there 
in  the  heavens,  and  thou  shalt  live  forever."  Yes,  the 
fact  is  more  certain  than  such  speech  would  make  it,  for 
this  fact  speaks  always,  —  a  perpetual  revelation;  and 
no  words  can  make  it  more  certain. 

As  a  man  attains  consciousness  of  himself,  he  attains 
consciousness  of  his  immortality.  At  first  he  asks  proof 
no  more  of  his  eternal  existence  than  of  his  present 
life;  instinctively  he  believes  both.  Nay,  he  does  not 
separate  the  two ;  this  life  is  one  link  in  that  golden  and 
electric  chain  of  immortality;  the  next  life  another  and 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  345 

more  bright,  but  in  the  same  chain.  Immortality  is 
what  philosophers  call  an  ontological  fact ;  it  belongs 
essentially  to  the  being  of  man,  just  as  the  eye  is  a  physi- 
ological fact  and  belongs  to  the  body  of  man.  To  my 
mind  this  is  the  great  proof  of  immortality,  —  the  fact 
that  it  is  written  in  human  nature ;  written  there  so 
plain  that  the  rudest  nations  have  not  failed  to  find  it, 
to  know  it ;  written  just  as  much  as  form  is  written  on 
the  circle,  and  extension  on  matter  in  general.  It  comes 
to  our  consciousness  as  naturally  as  the  notions  of  time 
and  space.  We  feel  it  as  a  desire ;  we  feel  it  as  a  fact. 
What  is  thus  in  man  is  writ  there  of  God,  who  writes  no 
lies.  To  suppose  that  this  universal  desire  has  no  cor- 
responding gratification,  is  to  represent  him  not  as  the 
Father  of  all,  but  as  only  a  deceiver.  I  feel  the  longing- 
after  immortality, — a  desire  essential  to  my  nature,  deep 
as  the  foundation  of  my  being ;  I  find  the  same  desire  in 
all  men.  I  feel  conscious  of  immortality ;  that  I  am  not 
to  die, — no,  never  to  die,  though  often  to  change.  I  can- 
not believe  this  desire  and  consciousness  are  felt  only 
to  mislead,  to  beguile,  to  deceive  me.  I  know  God  is  my 
Father,  and  the  Father  of  the  nations.  Can  the  Almighty 
deceive  his  children  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  can  conceive 
of  nothing  which  shall  make  me  more  certain  of  my 
immortality.  I  ask  no  argument  from  learned  lips. 
No  miracle  could  make  me  more  sure ;  no,  not  if  the 
sheeted  dead  burst  cerement  and  shroud,  and  rising  forth 
from  their  honored  tombs  stood  here  before  me,  —  the 
disenchanted  dust  once  more  enchanted  with  that  fiery 
life ;  no,  not  if  the  souls  of  all  my  sires  since  time 
began  came  thronging  round,  and  with  miraculous  speech 
told  me  they  lived  and  I  should  also  live.  I  could  only 
say,  "  I  knew  all  this  before,  why  waste  your  heavenly 
speech ! "     I  have  now  indubitable  certainty  of  eternal 


346  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

life.  Death,  removing  me  to  the  next  state,  can  give 
me  infallible  certainty. 

But  there  are  men  who  doubt  of  immortality.  They 
say  they  are  conscious  of  the  want,  not  of  the  fact. 
They  need  a  proof.  The  exception  here  proves  the  rule. 
You  do  not  doubt  your  personal  and  conscious  existence 
now ;  you  ask  no  proof  of  that ;  you  would  laugh  at  me 
should  I  try  to  convince  you  that  you  are  alive  and  self- 
conscious.  Yet  one  of  the  leaders  of  modern  philosophy 
wanted  a  proof  of  his  as  a  basis  for  his  science,  and 
said,  "  I  am  because  I  think."  But  his  thought  required 
proof  as  much  as  his  being ;  yes,  logically  more,  for 
being  is  the  ground  of  thinking,  not  thinking  of  being. 
At  this  day  there  are  sound  men  who  deny  the  existence 
of  this  outward  world,  declaring  it  only  a  dream-world. 
This  ground,  they  say,  and  yonder  sun  have  been  but  in 
fancy,  like  the  sun  and  ground  you  perchance  dreamed 
of  last  night,  whose  being  was  only  a  being  dreamed. 
These  are  exceptional  men,  and  help  prove  the  common 
rule,  —  that  man  trusts  his  senses  and  believes  an  out- 
ward world.  Yet  such  are  more  common  amongst  phi- 
losophers than  men  who  doubt  of  tlieir  immortal  life. 
You  cannot  easily  reason  those  men  out  of  their  philos- 
ophy and  into  their  senses,  nor  by  your  own  philosophy 
perhaps  convince  them  that  there  is  an  outward  world. 

I  think  few  of  you  came  to  your  belief  in  everlasting 
life  through  reasoning.  Your  belief  grew  out  of  your 
general  state  of  mind  and  heart.  You  could  not  help 
it.  Perhaps  few  of  you  ever  sat  down  and  weighed  the 
arguments  for  and  against  it,  and  so  made  up  your  mind. 
Perhaps  those  who  have  the  firmest  consciousness  of  the 
fact  are  least  familiar  with  the  arguments  which  confirm 
that  consciousness.  If  a  man  disbelieves  it,  if  he  denies 
it,  his  opinion  is  not  often  to  be  changed  immediately  or 


A    SERMON'  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  347 

directly  by  argument.  His  special  conviction  has  grown 
out  of  his  general  state  of  mind  and  heart,  and  is  only  to 
be  removed  by  a  change  in  his  whole  philosophy.  I  am 
not  honoring  men  for  their  belief,  nor  blaming  men  who 
doubt  or  deny.  I  do  not  believe  any  one  ever  willingly 
doubted  this ;  ever  purposely  reasoned  himself  into  the 
denial  thereof.  Men  doubt  because  they  cannot  help  it ; 
not  because  they  will,  but  must. 

There  are  a  great  many  things  true  which  no  man  as 
yet  can  prove  true ;  some  things  so  true  that  nothing  can 
make  them  plainer,  or  more  plainly  true.  I  think  it  is 
so  with  this  doctrine,  and  therefore,  for  myself,  ask  no 
argument.  With  my  views  of  man,  of  God,  of  the  rela- 
tion between  the  two,  I  want  no  proof,  satisfied  with  my 
own  consciousness  of  immortality.  Yet  there  are  argu- 
ments which  are  fair,  logical,  just,  which  satisfy  the 
mind,  and  may,  perhaps,  help  persuade  some  men  Avho 
doubt,  if  such  men  there  are  amongst  you.  I  think  that 
immortality  is  a  fact  of  consciousness ;  a  fact  given  in 
the  constitution  of  man :  therefore  a  matter  of  sentiment. 
But  it  requires  thought  to  pick  it  out  from  amongst  the 
other  facts  of  consciousness.  Though  at  first  merely  a 
feeling,  a  matter  of  sentiment,  on  examination  it  becomes 
an  idea, — ■  a  matter  of  thought.  It  will  bear  being  looked 
at  in  the  sharpest  and  dryest  light  of  logic.  Truth  never 
flinches  before  reason.  It  is  so  with  our  consciousness 
of  God  ;  that  is  an  ontological  fact,  a  fact  given  in  the 
nature  of  man.  At  first  it  is  a  feeling,  a  matter  of  sen- 
timent. By  thought  we  abstract  this  fact  from  other 
facts ;  we  find  an  idea  of  God.  That  is  a  matter  of 
philosophy,  and  the  analyzing  mind  legitimates  the  idea, 
and  at  length  demonstrates  the  existence  of  God,  which 
we  first  learned  without  analysis,  and  by  intuition.  A 
great  deal  has  been  written  to  prove  the  existence  of 


348  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

God,  and  that  by  the  ablest  men ;  yet  I  cannot  believe 
that  any  one  was  ever  reasoned  directly  into  a  belief  in 
God  by  all  tliose  able  men,  nor  directly  out  of  it  by  all 
the  sceptics  and  scoffers.  Indirectly  such  works  affect 
men,  cliange  their  philosophy  and  modes  of  thought,  and 
so  help  them  to  one  or  the  other  conclusion. 

The  idea  of  immortality,  like  the  idea  of  God,  in  a 
certain  sense  is  born  in  us,  and  fast  as  we  come  to  con- 
sciousness of  ourselves  we  come  to  consciousness  of  God, 
and  of  ourselves  as  immortal.  The  higher  we  advance 
in  wisdom,  goodness,  piety,  the  larger  place  do  God  and 
immortality  hold  in  our  experience  and  inward  life. 
I  think  that  is  the  regular  and  natural  process  of  a 
man's  development.  Doubt  of  either  seems  to  me  an 
exception,  an  irregularity.  Causes  that  remove  the 
doubt  must  be  general  more  than  special. 

However,  in  order  to  have  a  basis  of  thought  and 
reasoning,  as  well  as  of  intuition  and  reason,  let  me 
mention  some  of  the  arguments  for  everlasting  life. 

I.  The  first  is  drawn  from  the  general  belief  of  man- 
kind. The  greatest  philosophers  and  the  most  profound 
and  persuasive  religious  teachers  of  the  whole  world 
have  taught  this.  That  is  an  important  fact,  for  these 
men  represent  the  consciousness  of  mankind  in  tlie  high- 
est development  it  has  yet  reached,  and  in  such  points 
are  the  truest  representatives  of  man.  What  is  more, 
the  human  race  believes  it,  not  merely  as  a  thing  given 
by  miraculous  revelation,  not  as  a  matter  proven  by 
science,  not  as  a  thing  of  tradition  resting  on  some 
man's  authority,  but  believes  it  instinctively,  not  know- 
ing and  not  asking  why,  or  how ;  believes  it  as  a  fact  of 
consciousness.  Now,  in  a  matter  of  this  sort  the  opinion 
of  the  human  race  is  worth  considering.  I  do  not  value 
very  much  the  opinion  of  a  priesthood  in  Rome  or  Judea 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  349 

or  elsewhere,  on  this  point  or  any  other,  for  they  may 
have  designs  adverse  to  the  truth.  But  the  general  sen- 
timent of  the  liuman  race  in  a  matter  like  this  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  This  general  sentiment  of  man- 
kind is  a  quite  different  thing  from  public  opinion,  which 
favors  freedom  in  one  country  and  slavery  in  another ; 
this  sentiment  of  mankind  relates  to  what  is  a  matter 
of  feeling  with  most  men.  It  is  only  a  few  thinkers 
that  have  made  it  a  matter  of  thought.  The  opinion  of 
mankind,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  not  changed  on  this 
point  for  four  thousand  years.  Since  the  dawn  of  his- 
tory, man's  belief  in  immortality  has  continually  been 
developing  and  getting  deeper  fixed. 

Still  more,  this  belief  is  very  dear  to  mankind.  Let 
me  prove  that.  If  it  wei'e  true  that  one  human  soul  was 
immortal  and  yet  was  to  be  eternally  damned,  getting 
only  more  clotted  with  crime  and  deeper  bit  by  agony  as 
the  ages  went  slowly  by,  then  immortality  were  a  curse, 
not  to  that  man  only,  but  to  all  mankind ;  for  no 
amount  of  happiness,  merited  or  undeserved,  could  ever 
atone  or  make  up  for  the  horrid  wrong  done  to  that  one 
most  miserable  man.  Who  of  you  is  there  that  could 
relish  heaven,  or  even  bear  it  for  a  moment,  knowing 
that  a  brother  was  doomed  to  smart  with  ever  greatening 
agony,  while  year  on  year,  and  age  on  age,  the  endless 
chain  of  eternity  continued  to  coil  round  the  flying 
wheels  of  hell  ?  I  say  the  thought  of  one  such  man 
would  fill  even  heaven  with  misery,  and  the  best  man  of 
men  would  scorn  the  joys  of  everlasting  bliss,  would 
spurn  at  heaven  and  say,  "  Give  me  my  brother's  place  ; 
for  me  there  is  no  heaven  while  he  is  there  ! "  Now  it 
has  been  popularly  taught  that  not  one  man  alone,  but 
the  vast  majority  of  all  mankind,  are  thus  to  be  con- 
demned, —  immortal  only  to  be  everlastingly  wretched. 


350  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

That  is  the  popular  doctrine  now  in  this  land ;  it  has 
been  so  taught  in  the- Christian  churches  these  sixteen 
centuries  and  more,  —  taught  in  the  name  of  Christ! 
Such  an  immortality  would  be  a  curse  to  men,  to  every 
man  ;  as  much  so  to  the  "  saved  "  as  to  the  "  lost ; "  for 
who  would  willingly  stay  in  heaven,  and  on  such  terms  ? 
Surely  not  he  who  wept  with  weeping  men !  Yet  in  spite 
of  this  vile  doctrine  drawn  over  the  world  to  come,  man- 
kind religiously  believes  that  each  shall  live  forever. 
This  shows  how  strong  is  the  instinct  which  can  lift  up 
such  a  foul  and  hateful  doctrine  and  still  live  on.  Tell 
me  not  that  scoffers  and  critics  shall  take  away  man's 
faith  in  endless  life  ;  it  has -stood  a  harder  test  than  can 
ever  come  again. 

II.  The  next  argument  is  drawn  from  the  nature  of 
man. 

1.  All  men  desire  to  be  immortal.  This  desire  is 
instinctive,  natural,  universal.  In  God's  world  such  a 
desire  implies  the  satisfaction  thereof,  equally  natural 
and  universal.  It  cannot  be  that  God  has  given  man 
this  universal  desire  of  immortality,  this  belief  in  it,  and 
yet  made  it  all  a  mockery.  Man  loves  truth,  tells  it, 
rests  only  in  it ;  how  much  more  God,  who  is  the  true- 
ness  of  truth.  Bodily  senses  imply  their  objects,  —  the 
eye  light,  the  ear  sound;  the  touch,  the  taste,  the  smell, 
things  relative  thereto.  Spiritual  senses  likewise  foretell 
their  object,  —  are  silent  prophecies  of  endless  life.  The 
love  of  justice,  beauty,  truth,  of  man  and  God,  points  to 
realities  unseen  as  yet.  We  are  ever  hungering  after 
noblest  things,  and  what  we  feed  on  makes  us  hunger 
more.     The  senses  are  satisfied,  but  the  soul  never. 

2.  Then,  too,  while  this  composite  body  unavoidably 
decays,  this  simple  soul  which  is  my  life  decays  not; 
reason,  the  affections,  all  the  powers  that  make  the  man, 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL   LIFE.  351 

decay  not.  True,  the  organs  by  which  they  act  become 
impaired.  But  there  is  no  cause  for  thinking  that  love, 
conscience,  reason,  will  ever  become  weaker  in  man ; 
but  cause  for  thinking  that  all  these  continually  become 
more  strong.  Was  the  mind  of  Newton  gone  when  his 
frame,  long  over-tasked,  refused  its  wonted  work  ? 

3.  Here  on  earth,  everything  in  its  place  and  time 
matures.  The  acorn  and  the  chestnut,  things  natural  to 
this  climate,  ripen  every  year.  A  longer  season  would 
make  them  no  better  nor  bigger.  It  is  so  with  our  body ; 
that,  under  proper  conditions,  becomes  mature.  It  is 
so  with  all  the  things  of  earth.  But  man  is  not  fully 
grown,  as  the  acorn  and  the  chestnut ;  never  gets  mature. 
Take  the  best  man  and  the  greatest,  —  all  his  faculties 
are  not  developed,  fully  grown  and  matured.  He  is  not 
complete  in  the  qualities  of  a  man ;  nay,  often  half  his 
qualities  lie  all  unused.  Shall  we  conclude  these  are 
never  to  obtain  development  and  do  their  work?  The 
analogy  of  nature  tells  us  that  man,  the  new-born  plant, 
is  but  removed  by  death  to  another  soil,  where  he  shall 
grow  complete  and  become  mature. 

4.  Then,  too,  each  other  thing,  under  its  proper  condi- 
tions, not  only  ripens  but  is  perfect  also  after  its  kind. 
Each  clover-seed  is  perfect  as  a  star.  Every  lion,  as  a 
general  rule,  is  a  common  representation  of  all  lionhood; 
the  ideal  of  his  race  made  real  in  him,  a  thousand  years 
of  life  would  not  make  him  more.  But  where  is  the 
Adamitic  man,  —  the  type  and  representative  of  his  race, 
who  makes  actual  its  idea  ?  Even  Jesus  bids  you  not 
call  him  good  ;  no  man  has  all  the  manhood  of  mankind. 
Yes,  there  are  rudiments  of  greatness  in  us  all,  but 
abortive,  incomplete,  and  stopped  in  embryo.  Now,  all 
these  elements  of  manhood  point  as  directly  to  another 
state  as  the  unfinished  walls  of  yonder  rising  church 


852  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

intimate  that  the  work  is  not  complete,  that  the  artist 
here  intends  a  roof,  a  window  there,  here  a  tower,  and 
over  all  a  heaven-piercing  spire.  All  men  are  abortions, 
our  failure  pointing  to  the  real  success.  Nay,  we  are 
all  waiting  to  be  born,  our  whole  nature  looking  to 
another  world,  and  dimly  presaging  what  that  world 
shall  be.  Death,  however  we  misname  him,  seasonable 
or  out  of  time,  is  the  birth-angel,  that  alone. 

6.  Besides,  the  presence  of  injustice,  of  wrong,  points 
the  same  way.  The  fact  that  one  man  goes  out  of  this 
life  in  childhood,  in  manhood,  at  any  time  before  the 
natural  measure  of  his  days  is  full ;  the  fact  that  any  one 
is  by  circumstances  made  wretched  ;  that  he  is  hindered 
from  his  proper  growth,  and  has  not  here  his  natural  due, 
—  all  intimates  to  me  his  future  life.  I  know  that  God 
is  just.  I  know  his  justice  too  shall  make  all  things 
right,  for  he  must  have  the  power,  the  wish,  the  will 
therefor,  to  speak  in  human  speech.  I  see  the  injustice 
in  this  city,  its  pauperism,  suffering,  and  crime,  men 
smarting  all  their  life,  and  by  no  fault  of  theirs.  I 
know  there  must  be  another  hemisphere  to  balance  this ; 
another  life,  wherein  justice  shall  come  to  all  and  for 
all.  Else  God  were  unjust ;  and  an  unjust  God  to  me  is 
no  God  at  all,  but  a  wretched  chimera  which  my  soul 
rejects  with  scorn.  I  see  the  autumn  prefigured  in  the 
spring.  The  flowers  of  May-day  foretold  the  harvest,  its 
rosy  apples  and  its  yellow  ears  of  corn.  As  the  bud 
now  lying  cold  and  close  upon  the  bark  of  every  tree 
throughout  our  northern  clime  is  a  silent  prophecy  of 
yet  another  spring  and  other  summers,  and  harvests 
too,  so  this  instinctive  love  of  justice,  scantly  budding 
here  and  nipped  by  adverse  fate,  silently  but  clearly  tells 
of  a  kingdom  of  heaven.  I  take  some  miserable  child 
here  in  this  city,  squalid  in  dress  and  look,  ignorant  and 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL   LIFE.  353 

wicked  too  as  most  men  judge  of  vagrant  vice,  made  so 
by  circumstances  over  "which  that  child  had  no  control ; 
1  turn  off  with  a  shudder  at  the  public  wrong  we  have 
done  and  still  are  doing ;  but  in  that  child  I  see  proof  of 
another  world,  yes,  heaven  glittering  from  behind  those 
saddened  eyes.  I  know  that  child  has  a  man's  nature 
in  him,  perhaps  a  Channing's  trusting  piety  ;  perhaps 
a  Newton's  mind,  —  has  surely  rudiments  of  more  than 
these  ;  for  what  were  Channing,  Newton,  both  of  them, 
but  embryo  men  ?  I  turn  off  with  a  shudder  at  the  pub- 
lic wrong,  but  a  faith  in  God's  justice,  in  that  child's 
eternal  life,  which  nothing  can  ever  shake. 

III.  A  third  argument  is  drawn  from  the  nature  of 
God.  He,  as  the  Infinite,  the  Unconditioned,  the  Abso- 
lute, is  all-powerful,  all-wise,  all-good.  Therefore  he 
must  wish  the  best  of  all  possible  things;  must  know 
the  best  of  all  possible  things ;  must  will  the  best  of  all 
possible  things,  and  so  bring  it  to  pass.  Life  is  a  possi- 
ble thing ;  eternal  life  is  possible.  Neither  implies  a 
contradiction ;  yes,  to  me  they  seem  necessary,  more 
than  possible.  Now,  then,  as  life,  serene  and  happy  life, 
is  better  tlian  non-existence,  so  immortality  is  better 
than  perpetual  death.  God  must  know  that,  wish  that, 
will  that,  and  so  bring  that  about.  Man,  therefore,  must 
be  immortal.  This  argument  is  brief  indeed,  but  I  see 
not  how  it  can  be  withstood. 

I  do  not  know  that  one  of  you  doubts  of  eternal  life. 
If  any  does,  I  know  not  if  these  thoughts  will  ever  affect 
his  doubt.  Still  I  think  each  argument  is  powerful,  —  to 
one  that  thinks,  reasons,  balances,  and  then  decides,  ex- 
ceeding powerful.  All  put  together  form  a  mass  of 
argument  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  no  logic  can  resist. 
Yet  I  beg  you  to  understand  that  I  do  not  rest  immortal- 
itj  on  any  reasoning  of  mine,  but  on  reason  itself ;  not 

23 


354  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

on  these  logical  arguments,  but  on  man's  consciousness, 
and  the  instinctive  belief  which  is  common  to  the  human 
race.  I  believed  my  immortality  before  I  proved  it ;  be- 
lieved it  just  as  strongly  then  as  now.  Nay,  could  some 
doubter  rise,  and,  to  my  thinking,  vanquish  all  these  ar- 
guments, I  should  still  hold  fast  my  native  faith,  nor 
fear  the  doubter's  arms.  The  simple  consciousness  of 
men  is  stronger  than  all  forms  of  proof.  Still,  if  men 
want  arguments  —  why,  there  they  are. 

The  belief  in  immortality  is  one  thing ;  the  special 
form  thereof,  the  definite  notion  of  the  future  life,  an- 
other and  quite  different.  The  popular  doctrine  in  our 
churches  I  think  is  this :  That  this  body  which  we  lay 
in  the  dust  shall  one  day  be  raised  again,  the  living  soul 
joined  on  anew,  and  both  together  live  the  eternal  life. 
But  where  is  the  soul  all  this  time,  between  our  death- 
day  and  our  day  of  rising  ?  Some  say  it  sleeps  uncon- 
scious, dead  all  this  time  ;  others,  that  it  is  in  heaven 
now,  or  else  in  hell ;  others,  in  a  strange  and  transient 
home,  imperfect  in  its  joy  or  woe,  waiting  the  final  day 
and  more  complete  account.  It  seems  to  me  this  notion 
is  absurd  and  impossible,  —  absurd  in  its  doctrine  relative 
to  the  present  condition  of  departed  souls ;  impossible  in 
what  it  teaches  of  the  resurrection  of  this  body.  If  my 
soul  is  to  claim  the  body  again,  which  shall  it  be,  the 
body  I  was  born  into,  or  that  I  died  out  of  ?  If  I  live  to 
the  common  age  of  men,  changing  my  body  as  I  must, 
and  dying  daily,  then  I  have  worn  some  eight  or  ten 
bodies.  So  at  the  last,  which  body  shall  claim  my  soul, 
for  the  ten  had  her  ?  The  soul  herself  may  claim  them 
all.  But  to  make  the  matter  still  more  intricate,  there 
is  in  the  earth  but  a  certain  portion  of  matter  out  of 
which  human  bodies  can  be  made.  Considering  all  the 
millions  of   men  now  living,  the  myriads   of   millions 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  355 

that  have  been  before,  it  is  plain,  I  think,  that  all  the 
matter  suitable  for  human  bodies  has  been  lived  over 
many  times.  So  if  the  world  were  to  end  to-day,  in- 
stead of  each  old  man  having  ten  bodies  from  which  to 
choose  the  one  that  fits  him  best,  there  would  be  ten 
men,  all  clamoring  for  each  body  !  Shall  I  then  have  a 
handful  of  my  former  dust,  and  that  alone  ?  That  is 
not  the  resurrection  of  my  former  body.  This  whole 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  seems  to  me 
impossible  and  absurd. 

I  know  men  refer  this,  as  many  other  things  no  better, 
to  Jesus.  I  find  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  taught 
the  resurrection  of  the  body  ;  there  is  some  evidence  that 
he  did  not.  I  know  it  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees 
of  his  time,  of  Paul,  the  early  Christians,  and  more  or 
less  of  the  Christian  churches  to  this  day.  In  Christ's 
time  in  Judea,  there  were  the  Sadducees,  who  taught  the 
eternal  death  of  men  ;  the  Pharisees,  who  taught  the 
resurrection  of  the  flesh  and  its  reunion  with  the  soul ; 
the  Essenes,  who  taught  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but 
rejected  the  resurrection  of  the  body.  Paul  was  a  Phari- 
see, and  in  his  letters  taught  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
the  belief  of  the  Pharisees.  From  him  it  has  come  down 
to  us,  and  in  the  creed  of  many  churches  it  is  still  written, 
"  I  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh."  Many 
doubted  this  in  early  times,  but  the  council  of  Nice  de- 
clared all  men  accursed  who  dared  to  doubt  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  flesh.  I  mention  this  as  absurd  and  impossible, 
because  it  is  still,  I  fear,  the  popular  belief,  and  lest  some 
should  confound  the  doctrine  of  immortality  with  this 
tenet  of  the  Pharisees.  Let  it  be  remembered  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul  is  one  thing,  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  another  and  quite  different. 

What  is  this  future  life  ?  whac  can  we  know  of  it  be- 


356  f/je:t^,s  of  religion. 

sides  its  existence  ?  Some  men  speak  as  if  they  knew 
the  way  around  heaven  as  around  the  wards  of  their 
native  city.  What  we  can  know  in  detail  is  cautiously 
to  be  inferred  from  the  nature  of  man  and  the  nature  of 
God.     I  will  modestly  set  down  what  it  seems  to  me. 

It  must  be  a  conscious  state.  Man  is  by  his  nature 
conscious  ;  yes,  self-conscious.  He  is  progressive  in  his 
self-consciousness.  I  cannot  tliink  a  removal  out  of  the 
body  destroys  this  consciousness  ;  rather  that  it  enhances 
and  intensifies  this.  Yet  consciousness  in  the  next  life 
must  differ  as  much  from  consciousness  here  as  the  ripe 
peach  differs  from  the  blossom,  or  the  bud,  or  the  bark, 
or  the  earthly  materials  out  of  which  it  grew.  The  child 
is  ^10  limit  to  the  man,  nor  my  consciousness  now  to 
what  I  may  be,  must  be  hereafter. 

It  must  be  a  social  state.  Our  nature  is  social ;  our 
joys  social.  For  our  progress  here,  our  happiness,  we 
depend  on  one  another.  Must  it  not  be  so  there  ?  It 
must  be  an  advance  upon  our  nature  and  condition  here. 
All  the  analogy  of  nature  teaches  that.  Things  advance 
from  small  to  great ;  from  base  to  beautiful.  The  girl 
grows  into  a  woman ;  the  bud  swells  into  the  blossom, 
that  into  the  fruit.  The  process  over,  the  work  begins 
anew.  How  much  more  must  it  be  so  in  the  other  life. 
What  old  powers  we  shall  discover,  now  buried  in  the 
flesh,  what  new  powers  shall  come  upon  us  in  that  new 
state,  no  man  can  know ;  it  were  but  poetic  idleness  to 
talk  of  them.  We  see  in  some  great  man  what  power 
of  intellect,  imagination,  justice,  goodness,  piety,  he  re- 
veals, lying  latent  in  us  all.  How  men  bungle  in  their 
works  of  art !  No  Raphael  can  paint  a  dew-drop  or  a 
flake  of  frost.  Yet  some  rude  man,  tired  with  his  work, 
lies  down  beneath  a  tree,  his  head  upon  his  swarthy  arm, 
and  sleei^  shuts,  one  by  one,  these  five  scant  portals  of 


A    SERMOX  OX  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  357 

the  soul,  and  -what  an  artist  is  he  made  at  once  !  How 
brave  a  sky  he  paints  above  him,  with  what  golden  gar- 
niture of  clouds  set  off ;  what  flowers  and  trees,  what 
men  and  women  does  he  not  create,  and  moving  in  celes- 
tial scenes  I  What  years  of  history  does  he  condense  in 
one  short  minute,  and  when  he  wakes,  shakes  off  the 
purple  drapery  of  his  dream  as  if  it  were  but  worthless 
dust  and  girds  him  for  his  work  anew  !  What  other 
jDOwers  there  are  shut  up  in  men,  less  known  than  this 
artistic  phantasy, — powers  of  seeing  the  distant,  recalling 
the  past,  predicting  the  future,  feeling  at  once  the  charac- 
ter of  men,  —  of  this  we  know  little,  only  by  rare  glimpses 
at  the  unwonted  side  of  things.  But  yet  we  know  enough 
to  guess  there  are  strange  wonders  there  waiting  to  be 
revealed. 

What  form  our  conscious,  social,  and  increased  activity 
shall  take,  we  know  not.  We  know  of  that  no  more  than 
before  our  birth  we  knew  of  this  world,  of  sight,  smell, 
hearing,  taste,  and  touch,  or  the  things  which  they  re- 
veal. We  are  not  born  into  that  world,  have  not  its 
senses  yet.  This  we  know,  that  the  same  God,  all- 
powerful,  all-wise,  all-good,  rules  there  and  then,  as  here 
and  now.  Who  cannot  trust  him  to  do  right  and  best 
for  all  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  feel  no  wish  to  know  how, 
or  where,  or  what  I  shall  be  hereafter.  I  know  it  will 
be  right  for  my  truest  welfare,  for  the  good  of  all.  I 
am  satisfied  with  this  trust. 

Yet  the  next  life  must  be  a  state  of  retribution. 
Thither  we  carry  nothing  but  ourselves,  our  naked 
selves.  Our  fortune  we  leave  behind  us ;  our  honors 
and  rank  return  to  such  as  gave;  even  our  reputation, — 
the  good  or  ill  men  thought  we  were, — clings  to  us  no 
more.  We  go  thither  without  our  staff  or  scrip, — nothing 
but  the  man  we  are.     Yet  that  man  is  the  result  of  all 


358  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

life's  daily  work;  it  is  the  one  thing  which  we  have 
brought  to  pass.  I  cannot  believe  men  who  have  volun- 
tarily lived  mean,  little,  vulgar,  and  selfish  lives,  will  go 
out  of  this  and  into  that,  great,  noble,  generous,  good, 
and  holy.  Can  the  practical  saint  and  the  practical  hyp- 
ocrite enter  on  the  same  course  of  being  together  ?  I 
know  the  sufferings  of  bad  men  here,  the  wrong  they  do 
their  nature,  and  what  comes  of  that  Avrong.  I  think 
that  suffering  is  the  best  part  of  sin,  the  medicine  to 
heal  it  with.  What  men  suffer  here  from  their  wrong- 
doing is  its  ^natural  consequence;  but  all  that  suffering 
is  a  mercy,  designed  to  make  them  better.  Everything 
in  this  world  is  adapted  to  promote  the  welfare  of  God's 
creatures.  Must  it  not  be  so  in  the  next  ?  How  many 
men  seem  wicked  from  our  point  of  view  who  are  not 
so  from  their  own;  how  many  become  infamous  through 
no  fault  of  theirs,  —  the  victims  of  circumstances,  born 
into  crime,  of  low  and  corrupt  parents  whom  former 
circumstances  made  corrupt  !  Such  men  cannot  be 
sinners  before  God.  Here  they  suffer  from  the  tyranny 
of  appetites  they  never  were  taught  to  subdue ;  they 
have  not  the  joy  of  a  cultivated  mind.  The  children  of 
the  wild  Indian  are  capable  of  the  same  cultivation  as 
children  here;  yet  they  are  savages.  Is  it  always  to 
be  so  ?  Is  God  to  be  partial  in  granting  the  favors  of 
another  life  ?  I  cannot  believe  it.  I  doubt  not  that  many 
a  soul  rises  up  from  the  dungeon  and  the  gallows,  yes, 
from  dens  of  infamy  amongst  men,  clean  and  beautiful 
before  God.  Christ,  says  the  Gospel,  assured  the  peni- 
tent thief  of  sharing  heaven  with  him  —  and  that  day. 
Many  seem  inferior  to  me,- who  in  God's  sight  must  be 
far  before  me ;  men  who  now  socra  too  low  to  learn  of 
me  here,  may  be  too  high  to  teach  me  there. 

I  cannot  think  the  future  world  is  to  be  feared,  even 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  359 

by  the  worst  of  men.  I  had  rather  die  a  sinner  than 
live  one.  Doubtless  justice  is  there  to  be  done ;  that 
may  seem  stern  and  severe.  But  remember,  God's  justice 
is  not  like  a  man's  ;  it  is  not  vengeance,  but  mercy  ;  not 
poison,  but  medicine.  To  me  it  seems  tuition  more  than 
chastisement.  God  is  not  the  jailer  of  the  universe,  but 
the  Shepherd  of  the  people ;  not  the  hangman  of  man- 
kind, but  their  Physician  ;  yes,  our  Father.  I  cannot 
fear  him  as  I  fear  men.  I  cannot  fail  to  love.  I  abhor 
sin,  I  loathe  and  nauseate  thereat ;  most  of  all  at  my 
own.  I  can  plead  for  others  and  extenuate  their  guilt, 
perhaps  they  for  mine ;  not  I  for  my  own.  I  know  God's 
justice  will  overtake  me,  giving  me  what  I  have  paid  for. 
But  I  do  not,  cannot  fear  it.  I  know  his  justice  is  love ; 
that  if  I  suffer,  it  is  for  my  everlasting  joy.  I  think 
this  is  a  natural  state  of  mind.  I  do  not  find  that  men 
ever  dread  the  future  life,  or  turn  pale  on  their  death-bed 
at  thought  of  God's  vengeance,  except  when  a  priest- 
hood has  frightened  them  to  that.  The  world's  litera- 
ture, «v'hich  is  the  world's  confession,  proves  what  I  say. 
In  Greece,  in  classic  days,  when  there  was  no  caste  of 
priests,  the  belief  in  immortality  was  current  and  strong. 
But  in  all  her  varied  literature  I  do  not  remember  a  man 
dying,  yet  afraid  of  God's  vengeance.  The  rude  Indian 
of  our  native  land  did  not  fear  to  meet  the  Great  Spirit 
face  to  face.  I  have  sat  by  the  bedside  of  wicked  men, 
and  while  death  was  dealing  with  my  brother,  I  have 
watched  the  tide  slow  ebbing  from  the  shore,  but  I  have 
known  no  one  afraid  to  go.  Say  what  we  will,  there  is 
nothing  stronger  and  deeper  in  men  than  confidence  in 
God,  —  a  solemn  trust  that  he  will  do  us  good.  Even 
the  worst  man  thinks  God  his  Father ;  and  is  he  not  ? 
Tell  me  not  of  God's  vengeance,  imnishing  men  for  his 
own  glory !     There  is  no  such  thing.     Talk  not  to  me  of 


360  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

endless  hell,  where  men  must  suffer  for  suffering's  sake, 
be  damned  for  an  eternity  of  woe.  I  tell  you  there  is 
no  such  thing,  nor  can  there  ever  be.  Does  not  even  the 
hireling  shepherd,  when  a  single  lamb  has  gone  astray, 
leave  the  ninety  and  nine  safe  in  their  fold,  go  forth 
some  stormy  night  and  seek  the  wanderer,  rejoicing  to 
bring  home  the  lost  one  on  his  shoulders  ?  And  shall 
God  forget  his  child,  his  frailest  or  most  stubborn  child ; 
leave  him  in  endless  misery,  a  prey  to  insatiate  sin,  — 
that  grim,  bloodthirsty  wolf,  prowling  about  the  human 
fold  ?  I  tell  you  No ;  not  God.  Why,  this  eccentric 
earth  forsakes  the  sun  awhile,  careering  fast  and  far 
away,  but  that  attractive  power  prevails  at  length,  and 
the  returning  globe  comes  rounding  home  again.  Does 
a  mortal  mother  desert  her  son,  wicked,  corrupt,  and 
loathsome  though  he  be  ?  If  so,  the  wiser  world  cries 
Shame !  But  she  does  not.  When  her  child  becomes 
loathsome  and  hateful  to  the  world,  drunk  with  wicked- 
ness, and  when  the  wicked  world  puts  him  away  out  of  its 
sight,  —  strangling  him  to  death,  —  that  mother  forgets 
not  her  child.  She  had  his  earliest  kiss,  from  lips  all 
innocent  of  coming  ill,  and  she  will  have  his  last.  Yes, 
she  will  press  his  cold  and  stiffened  form  to  her  own 
bosom ;  the  bosom  that  bore  and  fed  the  innocent  babe 
yearns  yet  with  mortal  longing  for  the  murdered  murderer. 
Infamous  to  the  world,  his  very  dust  is  sacred  dust  to  her. 
She  braves  the  world's  reproach,  buries  her  son,  piously 
hoping  that  as  their  lives  once  mingled,  so  their  ashes 
shall.  The  world,  cruel  and  forgetful  oft,  honors  the 
mother  in  its  deepest  heart.  Do  you  tell  me  that  cul- 
prit's mother  loves  her  son  more  than-God  can  love  him  ? 
Then  go  and  worship  her.  I  know  that  when  father  and 
mother  both  forsake  me,  in  the  extremity  of  my  sin,  I 
know  my  God  loves  on.    Oh  yes,  ye  sons  of  men,  Indian 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  361 

and  Greek,  ye  are  right  to  trust  jour  God.  Do  priests 
and  their  churches  say  No  ?  —  bid  them  go  and  be  silent 
forever.  No  grain  of  dust  gets  lost  from  off  this  dusty 
globe ;  and  shall  God  lose  a  man  from  off  this  sphere  of 
souls  ?     Believe  it  not. 

I  know  that  suffering  follows  sin,  lasting  long  as  the 
sin.  I  thank  God  it  is  so  ;  that  God's  own  angel  stands 
there  to  warn  back  the  erring  Balaams,  wandering 
towards  woe.  But  God,  who  sends  the  rain,  the  dew,  the 
sun,  on  me  as  on  a  better  man,  will,  at  last,  I  doubt  it 
not,  make  us  all  pure,  all  just,  all  good,  and  so,  at  last, 
all  happy.  This  follows  from  the  nature  of  God  himself, 
for  the  All-good  must  wish  the  welfare  of  his  child ;  the 
All-wise  know  how  to  achieve  that  welfare  ;  the  All-pow- 
erful bring  it  to  pass.  Tell  me  he  wishes  not  the  eter- 
nal welfare  of  all  men,  then  I  say,  That  is  not  the  God 
of  the  universe.  I  own  not  that  as  God.  Nay,  I  tell 
you  it  is  not  God  you  speak  of,  but  some  heathen  fancy, 
smoking  up  from  your  unhuman  heart.  I  would  ask  the 
worst  of  mothers.  Did  you  forsake  your  child  because  he 
went  astray,  and  mocked  your  word  ?  "  Oh  no,"  she 
says  ;  "  he  was  but  a  child,  he  knew  no  better,  and  I  led 
him  right,  corrected  him  for  his  good,  not  mine  !  "  Are 
we  not  all  children  before  God ;  the  wisest,  oldest,  wick- 
edest, God's  child  ?  I  am  sure  he  will  never  forsake  me, 
how  wicked  soever  I  become.  I  know  that  he  is  love  ; 
love,  too,  that  never  fails.  I  expect  to  suffer  for  each 
conscious,  wilful  wrong  ;  I  wish,  I  hope,  I  long  to  suffer 
for  it.  I  am  wronged  if  I  do  not ;  what  I  do  not  out- 
grow, live  over  and  forget  here,  I  hope  to  expiate  there. 
I  fear  a  sin,  —  not  to  outgrow  a  sin. 

A  man  who  has  lived  here  a  manly  life,  must  enter 
the  next  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances.  I  do 
not  mean  a  man  of  mere  negative  goodness,  starting  in 


362 


VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


the  road  of  old  custom,  with  his  wheels  deep  in  the  ruts, 
not  having  life  enough  to  go  aside,  but  a  positively  good 
man,  one  bravely  good.  He  has  lived  heaven  here,  and 
must  enter  higher  up  than  a  really  wicked  man,  or  a 
slothful  one,  or  one  but  negatively  good.  He  can  go 
from  earth  to  heaven,  as  from  one  room  to  another,  pass 
gradually,  as  from  winter  to  spring.  To  such  an  one, 
no  revolution  appears  needed.  The  next  life,  it  seems, 
must  be  a  continual  progress,  the  improvement  of  old 
powers,  the  disclosure  or  accession  of  new  ones.  What 
nobler  reach  of  thought,  what  profounder  insight,  what 
more  heavenly  imagination,  what  greater  power  of  con- 
science, faith,  and  love,  will  bless  us  there  and  then,  it 
were  vain  to  calculate,  it  is  far  beyond  our  span.  You 
see  men  now,  whose  souls  are  one  with  God,  and  so  his 
will  works  through  them  as  the  magnetic  fire  runs  on 
along  the  unimpeding  line.  What  happiness  they  have, 
it  is  they  alone  can  say.  How  much  greater  must  it  be 
there,  not  even  they  can  tell.  Here  the  body  helps  us 
to  some  things.  Through  these  five  small  loopholes 
the  world  looks  in.  How  much  more  does  the  body 
hinder  us  from  seeing  ?  Through  the  sickly  body  yet 
other  worlds  look  in.  He  who  has  seen  only  the  day- 
light, knows  nothing  of  that  heaven  of  stars,  which  all 
night  long  hang  over  head  their  lamps  of  gold.  When 
death  has  dusted  off  this  body  from  me,  who  will  dream 
for  nie  the  new  powers  I  shall  possess  ?  It  were  vain  to 
try.     Time  shall  reveal  it  all. 

I  cannot  believe  that  any  state  in  heaven  is  a  final 
state,  only  a  condition  of  progress.  The  bud  opens  into 
the  blossom,  the  flower  matures  into  the  fruit.  The  sal- 
vation of  to-day  is  not  blessedness  enough  for  to-morrow. 
Here  we  are,  first,  babes  of  earth,  with  a  few  senses,  and 
those  imperfect,  helpless,  and   ignorant;  then  children 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  363 

of  earth ;  then  youths ;  then  men,  armed  with  reason, 
conscience,  affection,  piety,  and  go  on  enhirging  these 
without  end.  So  methinks  it  must  be  there,  that  wc 
shall  be,  first,  babes  of  heaven,  then  children,  next  youths, 
and  so  go  on  growing,  advancing  and  advancing,  —  our 
being  only  a  becoming  more  and  more,  with  no  possibil- 
ity of  ever  reaching  the  end.  If  this  be  true,  then  there 
must  be  a  continual  increase  of  being.  So,  in  some  fu- 
ture age,  the  time  will  come  when  each  one  of  us  shall 
have  more  mind,  and  heart,  and  soul,  than  Christ  on 
earth  ;  more  than  all  men  now  on  earth  have  ever  had ; 
yes,  more  than  they  and  all  the  souls  of  men  now  passed 
to  heaven,  —  shall  have,  each  one  of  us,  more  being  than 
they  all  have  had,  and  so  more  truth,  more  soul,  more 
faith,  more  rest,  and  bliss  of  life. 

Do  men  of  tlie  next  world  look  in  upon  this  ?  Are 
they  present  with  us,  conscious  of  our  deeds  or  thoughts? 
Who  knows  ?  Who  can  say  ay  or  no  ?  The  unborn 
know  nothing  of  the  life  on  earth ;  yet  the  born  of  earth 
know  somewhat  of  them,  and  make  ready  for  their  com- 
ing. Who  knows  but  men  born  to  heaven  are  waiting  for 
your  birth  to  come,  have  gone  to  prepare  a  place  for  us  ? 
All  that  is  fancy,  and  not  fact ;  it  is  not  philosophy,  but 
poetry  ;  no  more.  Of  this  we  may  be  sure,  that  what  is 
best  will  be  ;  what  best  for  saint  or  sinner ;  what  most 
conducive  to  their  real  good.  That  is  no  poetry,  but 
unavoidable  truth,  which  all  mankind  may  well  believe. 

There  are  many  who  never  attained  their  true  stature 
here,  yet  without  blameworthiness  of  theirs  ;  men  cheated 
of  their  growth.  Many  a  Milton  walks  on  his  silent  way, 
and  goes  down  at  last,  not  singing,  and  unsung.  How 
many  a  possible  Newton  or  Descartes  has  dug  the  sew- 
ers of  a  city,  and  dies,  giving  no  sign  of  the  wealthy  soul 
he  bore ! 


864  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

"  Chill  peniu-y  repressed  his  noble  rage, 
And  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  soul." 

What  if  the  best  of  you  had  been  born  slaves  in  North 
Carolina,  or  among  savages  at  New  Zealand  ;  nay,  in 
some  of  the  filthy  cellars  of  Boston,  and  turned  friend- 
less into  the  streets  ;  what  might  you  have  become  ? 
Surely  not  what  you  are  ;  yet,  before  God,  you  might, 
perhaps,  be  more  deserving,  and  at  death  go  to  a  far 
higher  place.  What  is  so  terribly  wrong  here  must  be 
righted  there.  It  cannot  be  that  God  will  thrust  a  man 
out  of  heaven  because  his  mother  was  a  savage,  a  slave, 
a  pauper,  or  a  criminal.  It  is  men's  impiety  which  docs 
so  here,  not  Heaven's  justice  there !  How  the  wrong 
shall  be  righted  I  knoAv  not,  care  not  now  to  know ;  of 
the  fact  I  ask  no  further  certainty.  Many  that  are  last 
shall  be  first.  It  may  be  that  the  pirate,  in  heaven,  hav- 
ing outgrown  his  earthly  sins,  shall  teach  justice  to  the 
judge  who  hanged  him  here.  They  who  were  oppressed 
and  trampled  on,  kept  down,  dwarfed,  stinted,  and  ema- 
ciate in  soul,  must  have  justice  done  them  there,  and 
will  doubtless  stand  higher  in  heaven  than  we,  who,  hav- 
ing many  talents,  used  them  poorly,  or  hid  them  idle  in 
the  dirt,  knowing  our  Father's  will,  yet  heeding  not.  It 
was  Jesus  that  said.  Many  shall  come  from  the  east  and 
the  west,  and  sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  men 
calling  themselves  saints  be  thrust  out. 

Shall  we  remember  the  deeds  of  the  former  life,  —  this 
man  that  he  picked  rags  out  of  the  mud  in  the  streets, 
and  another  that  ho  ruled  nations  ?  Who  can  tell ;  nay, 
who  need  care  to  ask  ?  Such  a  remembrance  seems  not 
needed  for  retribution's  sake.  The  oak  remembers  not 
each  leaf  it  ever  bore,  though  each  helped  to  form  the 
oak,  its  branch  and  bole.  How  much  has  gone  from  our 
bodies !  we  know  not  how  it  came  or  went !     How  much 


A    SERMON  ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  365 

of  our  past  life  is  gone  from  our  memory,  jet  its  result 
lives  in  our  character !  The  saddler  remembers  not 
every  stitch  he  took  Tvhile  an  apprentice,  yet  each  stitch 
helped  to  form  the  saddle. 

Shall  we  know  our  friends  again  ?  For  my  own  part 
I  cannot  doubt  it ;  least  of  all  when  I  drop  a  tear  over 
their  recent  dust.  Death  does  not  separate  them  from 
us  here.  Can  life  in  heaven  do  it  ?  They  live  in  our 
remembrance ;  memory  rakes  in  the  ashes  of  the  dead, 
and  the  virtues  of  the  departed  flame  up  anew,  enlight- 
ening the  dim  cold  walls  of  our  consciousness.  Much  of 
our  joy  is  social  here  ;  we  only  half  enjoy  an  undivided 
good.  God  made  mankind,  but  sundered  that  into  men, 
that  they  might  help  one  another.  Must  it  not  be  so 
there,  and  we  be  with  our  real  friends  ?  Man  loves  to 
think  it ;  yet  to  trust  is  wiser  than  to  prophesy.  But 
the  girl  who  went  from  us  a  little  one  may  be  as  parent 
to  her  father  when  he  comes,  and  the  man  who  left  us 
have  far  outgrown  our  dream  of  an  angel  when  we  meet 
again.  I  cannot  doubt  that  manv  a  man  who  not  longr 
ago  left  his  body  here,  now  far  surpasses  the  radiant 
manliness  which  Jesus  won  and  wore  ;  yes,  is  far  better, 
greater,  too,  than  many  poorly  conceive  of  God. 

There  are  times  when  we  think  little  of  a  future  life. 
In  a  period  of  success,  serene  and  healthy  life,  the  day's 
good  is  good  enough  for  that  day.  But  there  comes  a 
time  when  this  day's  good  is  not  enough,  its  ill  too  great 
to  bear.  When  death  comes  down  and  wrenches  off  a 
friend  from  our  side,  —  wife,  child,  brother,  father,  a  dear 
one  taken, —  this  life  is  not  enough.  Oh,  no,  not  to  the 
coldest,  coarsest,  and  most  sensual  man.  I  put  it  to  you, 
to  the  most  heartless  of  you  all,  or  the  most  cold  and 
doubting ;  when  you  lay  down  in  the  earth  your  mother, 
sister,  wife,  or  child,  remembering  that  you  shall  see 


866  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

their  face  no  more,  —  is  life  enough  ?  Do  yon  not  reach 
out  your  arms  for  heaven,  for  immortality,  and  feel  you 
cannot  die  ?  When  I  see  men  at  a  feast,  or  busy  in  the 
street,  I  do  not  think  of  their  eternal  life,  —  perhaps  feel 
not  my  own ;  but  when  the  stiffened  body  goes  down 
to  the  tomb,  sad,  silent,  remorseless,  I  feel  there  is  no 
death  for  the  man.  That  clod  which  yonder  dust  shall 
cover  is  not  my  brother.  The  dust  goes  to  its  place,  the 
man  to  his  own.  It  is  then  I  feel  my  immortality.  I 
look  through  the  grave  into  heaven.  I  ask  no  miracle, 
no  proof,  no  reasoning  for  me.  I  ask  no  risen  dust  to 
teach  me  immortality.     I  am  conscious  of  eternal  life. 

But  there  are  worse  hours  than  these  ;  seasons  bitterer 
than  death,  sorrows  that  lie  a  latent  poison  in  the  heart, 
slowly  sapping  the  foundations  of  our  peace.  There  are 
hours  when  the  best  life  seems  a  sheer  failure  to  the 
man  who  lived  it,  his  wisdom  folly,  his  genius  impotence, 
his  best  deed  poor  and  small ;  when  he  wonders  why  he 
was  suffered  to  be  born ;  when  all  the  sorrows  of  the 
world  seem  poured  upon  him ;  when  he  stands  in  a  pop- 
ulous loneliness,  and  though  weak,  can  only  lean  in  upon 
himself.  In  such  hour  he  feels  the  insufficiency  of  this 
life.  It  is  only  his  cradle-time,  he  counts  himself  just 
born ;  all  honors,  wealth,  and  fame  are  but  baubles  in 
his  baby  band  ;  his  deep  philosophy  but  nursery  rhymes. 
Yet  he  feels  the  immortal  fire  burning  in  his  heart.  He 
stretches  his  hands  out  from  the  swaddling-clothes  of 
flesh,  reaching  after  the  topmost  star,  which  he  sees,  or 
dreams  he  sees,  and  longs  to  go  alone.  Still  worse,  the 
consciousness  of  sin  comes  over  him  ;  he  feels  that  he 
has  insulted  himself.  All  about  him  seems  little ;  him- 
self little,  yet  clamoring  to  be  great.  Then  we  feel 
our  immortality ;  through  the  garish  light  of  day  we 
see  a  star  or  two  beyond.     The  soul  within  us  feels  her 


A    SERMON   ON  IMMORTAL  LIFE.  367 

wings,  contending  to  be  born,  impatient  for  the  sky,  and 
wrestles  with  the  eartlily  worm  that  folds  us  in. 

"Mysterious  Niglit!  when  our  first  Parent  knew 
Thee  from  report  divine,  and  heard  thy  name, 
Did  he  not  tremble  for  this  lovely  frame, 

This  glorious  canopy  of  light  and  blue? 

Yet  'neath  a  curtain  of  translucent  dew, 

Bathed  in  the  rays  of  the  great  setting  flame, 
Hesperus  with  the  host  of  heaven  came ; 

And  lo,  Creation  widened  in  man's  view. 

Who  could  have  thought  such  darkness  lay  concealed 
Within  thy  beams,  O  Sun  ?  or  who  could  find, 

Whilst  fly  and  leaf  and  insect  stood  revealed, 
That  to  such  countless  orbs  thou  mad'st  us  blind? 

Why  do  we  then  shun  Death  with  anxious  strife  ? 

If  Light  can  thus  deceive,  wherefore  not  Life?  " 

I  would  not  slight  this  wondrous  world.  I  love  its 
day  and  night ;  its  flowers  and  its  fruits  are  dear  to  me. 
I  would  not  wilfully  lose  sight  of  a  departing  cloud. 
Every  year  opens  new  beauty  in  a  star,  or  in  a  purple 
gentian  fringed  with  loveliness.  The  laws  too  of  matter 
seem  more  wonderful  the  more  I  study  them,  in  the 
whirling  eddies  of  the  dust,  in  the  curious  shells  of  for- 
mer life  buried  by  thousands  in  a  grain  of  chalk,  or  in 
the  shining  diagrams  of  light  above  my  head.  Even  the 
ugly  becomes  beautiful  when  truly  seen.  I  see  the  jewel 
in  the  bunchy  toad.  The  more  I  live,  the  more  I  love 
this  lovely  world ;  feel  more  its  Author  in  each  little 
thing,  in  all  that  is  great.  But  yet  I  feel  my  immor- 
tality the  more.  In  childhood  the  consciousness  of  im- 
mortal life  buds  forth  feeble,  though  full  of  promise. 
In  the  man  it  unfolds  its  fragrant  petals,  his  most  celes- 
tial flower,  to  mature  its  seed  througliout  eternity.  The 
prospect  of  that  everlasting  life,  the  perfect  justice  yet 
to   come,   the    infinite   progress   before    us,   cheer   and 


368  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

comfort  the  heart.  Sad  and  disappointed,  full  of  self- 
reproach,  we  shall  not  be  so  forever.  Tlie  light  of  heaven 
breaks  upon  the  night  of  trial,  sorrow,  sin  ;  the  sombre 
clouds  which  overhung  the  east,  grown  purple  now,  tell 
us  the  dawn  of  heaven  is  coming  in.  Our  faces,  gleamed 
on  by  that,  smile  in  the  new-born  glow ;  we  are  beguiled 
of  our  sadness  before  we  are  aware.  The  certainty  of 
this  provokes  us  to  patience,  it  forbids  us  to  be  slothfully 
sorrowful.  It  calls  us  to  be  up  and  doing.  The  thought 
that  all  will  at  last  be  right,  with  the  slave,  the  poor,  the 
weak,  and  the  wicked,  inspires  us  with  zeal  to  work  for 
them  here,  and  make  it  all  right  for  them  even  now. 

There  is  small  merit  in  being  willing  to  die ;  it  seems 
almost  sinful  in  a  good  man  to  wish  it  when  the  world 
needs  him  here  so  much.  It  is  weak  and  unmanly  to  be 
always  looking  and  sighing  voluptuously  for  ,that.  But 
it  is  of  great  comfort  to  have  in  your  soul  a  sure  trust 
in  immortality;  of  great  value  here  and  now  to  anticipate 
time,  and  live  to-day  the  eternal  life.  That  we  may  all 
do.  The  joys  of  heaven  will  begin  as  soon  as  we  attain 
the  character  of  heaven  and  do  its  duties.  That  may 
begin  to-day.  It  is  everlasting  life  to  know  God,  to  have 
his  Spirit  dwelling  in  you,  yourself  at  one  with  him. 
Try  that  and  prove  its  worth.  Justice,  usefulness,  wis- 
dom, religion,  love,  are  the  best  things  we  hope  for  in 
heaven.  Try  them  on ;  they  will  fit  you  here  not  less 
becomingly.  They  are  the  best  things  of  earth.  Think 
no  outlay  of  goodness  and  piety  too  great.  You  will 
find  your  reward  begin  here.  As  much  goodness  and 
piety,  so  much  heaven.  Men  will  not  pay  you,  God 
will,  —  pay  you  now,  pay  you  hereafter  and  forever. 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  369 


AN    HUMBLE   TRIBUTE  TO    THE   MEMORY   OF 
WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING,  D.D. 

And  Eliska  saw  it  and  he  said :  My  father,  mi/ father,  the  chariot  of  Israel, 
and  the  horsemen  thereof!  —  2  Kings  ii.  12. 

In  the  singular  mythical  story  related  in  the  second 
chapter  of  tlic  second  book  of  the  Kings,  it  is  said  that 
Elijah  the  Prophet  was  separated  from  the  world  of  liv- 
ing mortals,  and  carried  up  to  the  heavens  in  a  fiery 
chariot,  with  fiery  horses,  in  the  midst  of  a  whirlwind. 
Elisha,  when  he  saw  a  man  of  such  power  and  usefulness 
as  the  good  prophet  so  suddenly  snatched  from  the  earth, 
exclaimed,  "  My  father,  my  father,  the  chariot  of  Is- 
rael, and  the  horsemen  thereof ! "  Since  we  met  on  the 
last  Sabbath,  intelligence  has  reached  us  of  the  death  of 
the  great  and  good  Dr.  Channing.  I  can  in  nowise 
allow  that  event  to  pass  without  notice  in  this  place. 
However,  I  must  say  it  is  with  the  greatest  diffidence 
that  I  venture  to  speak  of  him.  I  feel  unworthy  of  the 
theme  ;  wholly  unable  to  do  justice  to  so  great  and  good 
a  man.  But  it  is  useless  to  waste  your  time  in  profes- 
sions of  inability,  which  the  discourse,  poor  and  imperfect 
as  it  is,  will  itself  carry  on  its  face. 

The  facts  of  his  life  most  relevant  to  this  occasion 
may  be  stated  in  a  few  words.  He  was  born  at  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  on  the  seventh  of  April,  1780 ;  graduated 
at  Harvard  University,  with  the  first  honors  of  his  class, 
in  1798  ;  was  settled  in  the  ministry  in  1803 ;  and  died 

24 


370  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

at  Bennington,  Vermont,  the  second  day  of  this  present 
month. 

He  was  known  to  few  of  this  audience  by  face  ;  fewer 
still  have  heard  his  voice.  But  his  influence  was  a 
stranger  to  none  of  us  all.  His  words  of  wisdom,  piety, 
and  love  have  touched  our  hearts,  and  that  long  ago,  and 
often.  If  there  are  amongst  us  any  who  have  read  no  line 
of  his  works,  —  and  doubtless  there  are  such  in  every  au- 
dience, —  still,  the  tones  of  his  golden  harp  have  been 
repeated  by  others,  and  echoed  back  even  to  their  ears,  by 
both  the  pulpit  and  the  press.  The  sun  warms  the  air 
of  caverns  where  it  never  shines. 

A  great  man,  of  wide  reputation  and  deep  influence, 
has  fallen  in  the  midst  of  us.  It  is  speaking  with  moder- 
ation to  say  that  no  man  of  oui"  century  who  writes  the 
English  tongue  had  so  much  weight  with  the  wise  and 
pious  men  who  speak'  it.  The  evening  before  an  election 
any  political  brawler,  with  confidence  and  a  voice,  can 
collect  the  "  freemen,"  and  make  the  mob  fling  up  their 
caps  and  shout  huzzas,  which  in  the  next  year  shall  be 
turned  to  hissing,  if  not  execration.  Such  men  are 
thought  to  have  influence  ;  they  have  it,  as  boys  to  raise 
clouds  of  dust  in  a  summer  day.  But  here  one  has  gone 
back  to  the  sky  who  touched  the  mind  of  wise  men,  the 
heart  of  good  men,  the  soul  of  men  pious  and  Christian, 
deepening  what  is  deepest,  and  appealing  to  what  is  most 
divine. 

Of  all  our  writers,  there  was  none  whose  words  found 
the  class  of  readers  which  he  addressed.  He  spoke  on 
the  loftiest  themes,  —  Man,  Christ,  God,  Duty,  Life, 
Heaven.  His  word  reached  the  best  of  men.  At  this 
day  his  noiseless  influence  on  the  soul  of  his  countrymen 
was  wide,  deep,  and  beautiful.  How  could  it  be  other- 
wise ?     Let  those  that  knew  him  say.     He  was  of  no 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.   CIIANNING.  371 

part}"^  in  politics ;  all  must  have  smarted  under  his  re- 
buke; each  might  have  been  blessed  by  his  sublime  ideal, 
and  the  wise  and  moderate  method  he  took  to  reach  it. 
He  was  of  no  clan  or  coterie  in  social  life.  The  in- 
structed man,  accomplished  with  the  learning  and  sci- 
ence of  the  times,  saw  in  him  an  equal,  to  say  the  least ; 
the  poorest  of  the  ignorant  found  here  a  brother,  who 
never  scorned  the  affinity  which  bound  him  to  the 
humblest  of  his  race.  He  was  of  no  sect  in  religion  ; 
he  loved  piety  and  honored  a  divine  life  wherever  he  saw 
their  light,  and  did  not  think  living  water  impure  because 
it  flowed  into  an  urn  of  different  form  from  his  own. 
All  denominations  of  theology  —  there  is  but  one  of  re- 
ligion —  have  been  blessed  by  him.  His  writings  found 
their  way  where  no  other  modern  books  can  go  :  into  the 
hearts  of  men  of  all  parties,  political,  social,  or  theologi- 
cal. It  is  not  saying  too  much  to  say  he  has  done  more 
to  liberalize  theology  than  any  man  now  living  where 
the  English  tongue  is  spoken.  Some  have  gone  farther, 
and  many  faster  than  he.  They  may  have  shed  more 
light ;  but  he  more  warmth  ;  and  after  all  it  is  the  good 
heart,  more  than  the  wise  head,  that  is  to  make  our  the- 
ology edifying  and  religious.  Still,  spite  of  Dr.  Channing's 
catholic  wisdom,  there  was  a  sectarian  zeal,  a  social  clan- 
nishness,  a  political  bigotry  amongst  us,  which  rejected 
liis  influence,  and  yet  remains  unblessed  ;  for  of  all  walls, 
those  of  a  party,  a  clan,  and  a  sect  are  the  hardest  to 
break  down,  the  most  difficult  to  climb  over,  the  most 
impossible  to  see  through.  The  idols  of  the  tribe  are 
perhaps  the  last  that  will  be  given  up. 

Dr.  Channing's  influence  was  not  confined  to  New 
England  :  the  South  and  the  West  were  warmed  at  his 
fire  ;  not  to  the  United  States,  for  in  England  his  works 
were  more  read,  his  spirit  took  a  stronger  and  deeper 


372  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

hold,  than  with  us.  The  local  jealousies,  the  party  strife, 
the  pecuniary  interests,  the  fanaticism  of  a  sect,  had  less 
po^er  over  his  writings  abroad  than  at  home.  He  was  not 
personally  mingled  with  their  discussions,  nor  involved 
in  their  strife,  as  whoever  speaks  must  be  at  home,  and 
therefore  he  was  heard  with  something  of  the  same  im- 
partiality as  a  voice  from  remote  ages.  The  absolute 
value  of  his  works  was  weighed  more  judiciously  there, 
because  the  reader  stood  aloof  from  the  war  of  opinions 
that  went  on  with  us.  None  of  our  writers  was  so  well 
known  abroad  among  serious  and  religious  men ;  none 
so  well  represented  the  morality  and  religion  of  our 
land  ;  none  contributed  so  much  to  wipe  off  the  foul  but 
just  imputation  cast  upon  us,  —  of  caring  only  for  money, 
and  if  that  came,  not  caring  by  what  means,  though  we 
violate  all  laws  of  man  or  God,  and  break  our  faith,  and 
butcher  the  Red-man,  who  will  not  work,  and  chain  the 
Black-man,  whom  stripes  compel  to  toil. 

No  American  had  such  power  abroad.  His  judgment 
on  the  great  moral  questions  of  the  day  was  earnestly 
looked  for  by  wise  men,  and  respected  when  it  came. 
We  have  had  great  men  :  men  that  did  honor  to  their 
country  and  their  kind  ;  men  of  large  soul  and  broad 
views,  who  have  made  a  mark  on  their  age;  political 
men,  that  warded  off  the  perils  which  hung  over  our 
heads,  and  helped  us  live  together  on  better  terms  ;  but 
I  hesitate  not  to  say  that,  since  Washington,  no  man  has 
died  amongst  us  whose  real  influence  was  so  wide  and  so 
beneficent,  both  abroad  and  at  home.     ' 

It  may  be  asked,  what  was  the  secret  of  his  power  9 
It  was  in  no  uncommon  gifts  of  mind  that  God  gave  him 
outright.  With  these,  no  doubt,  he  was  sufficiently  well 
provided  ;  a  man  thoroughly  well-born  and  amply  en- 
dowed.    But  many  of  his  fellow-citizens  far  outshone 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  373 

him  in  this  respect,  who  have  yet  no  influence.  He  had 
not  the  power  of  acute  analysis  and  rapid  combination 
of  particulars,  —  the  faculty  of  seeing  the  soul  of  things, 
the  one  common  property,  which,  as  a  law,  runs  through 
the  many  diverse  particulars,  —  the  quality  that  makes  a 
philosopher.  Of  this  he  had  less  than  many  of  his  con- 
temporaries who  shall  go  down  to  their  grave  and  be 
forgot,  leaving  no  mark,  but  a  stone  in  the  churchyard, 
to  show  they  once  have  been.  Dr.  Channing's  analysis 
seems  sometimes  to  have  halted  this  side  of  the  ultimate 
fact. 

Not  possessing  this  quality  in  a  very  eminent  degree, 
he  could  not  be  "  original "  as  a  philosopher  or  theo- 
logian. His  abstract  opinions,  or  his  general  laws,  never 
struck  you,  therefore,  as  his  own  discoveries.  His  specu- 
lations had  not  the  charm  of  even  apparent  novelty,  which 
imposes  on  the  superficial  whenever  some  unripe  apple 
is  shaken  from  the  tree,  or  some  withered  dogma  is  dis- 
quieted and  brought  up  from  its  place  of  oblivion.  In 
matters  of  pure  thought.  Dr.  Channing  was  never  con- 
spicuous for  originality.  Others  went  before  him  in  all 
paths  of  philosophy,  ethics,  or  theology  which  he  after- 
wards trod. 

He  had  not  the  powers  of  imagination  which  wheels 
over  earth  and  through  the  sky,  and  comes  rounding 
home  at  last,  its  chariot  laden  with  spoils  gathered  from 
every  flower  and  every  star.  Of  this  he  had  little,  be- 
cause others  have  more  ;  though  certainly  he  was  not 
deficient  when  measured  by  the  common  scale.  No  one 
will  contend  that  he  had  the  creative  faculty  of  imagina- 
tion as  it  appears  in  some  of  his  contemporaries  on  both 
sides  the  water.  Perhaps  he  had  not  the  lively  fancy 
that  passes  for  imagination  with  the  careless,  which 
allures  and  disappoints  you  in  so  many  writers  of  the 


374  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

present  day.  Certainly  he  never  embellished  meagre 
conceptions  with  a  dazzling  trope,  nor  used  fine  words 
to  conceal  poverty  of  sense. 

He  had  not  that  practical  turn  for  affairs  which  often 
does  what  neither  inventive  nor  creative  powers  can  ac- 
complish. He  had  neither  skill  nor  boldness  to  put  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  mass  of  men  and  lead  them  on  to 
some  one  particular  end.  He  did  not  know  the  right 
handle  of  things,  the  only  philosophy  of  some  that  have 
passed  for  great.  If  tlie  world  is  ruled  by  boldness,  as 
some  fancy,  he  was  destined  at  birth  to  have  no  place 
in  its  government.  He  was  cautious  and  timid  both  in 
thought  and  action. 

It  was  none  of  these  things  that  gave  him  his  power. 
No,  that  came  from  a  deeper,  purer,  and  more  enduring 
source.  It  was  a  moral  power  that  spoke  in  him  ;  which 
spoke  through  him.  As  you  read  his  works,  or  listened 
to  his  words,  you  felt  it  was  not  his  understanding 
that  addressed  you,  but  his  whole  character.  There  are 
some  that  speak  bravely  and  in  fine  speech  ;  yes,  with 
deep  thought,  but  you  think  of  them  when  they  speak. 
Their  opiiiions  seem  their  property,  at  least  for  the  time. 
Others  put  themselves  in  the  background,  their  thought 
concealing  them.  It  seems  to  be  no  personal  thing,  but 
the  voice  of  wisdom  or  piety  that  speaks  through  them, 
not  affected  by  the  man's  private  will.  You  say,  "  An 
angel  spoke  ;  let  us  obey."  So  was  it  with  him.  When 
their  great  orator  thundered,  the  Athenians  forgot  De- 
mosthenes in  thinking  of  Philip  and  the  city.  In  hear- 
ing a  sermon  of  Dr.  Channing,  men  thought  of  goodness, 
duty,  religion,  not  of  him. 

His  fidelity  to  his  moral  and  religious  convictions 
made  him  strong  and  great.  What  he  said  seemed  to 
come  from  nothing  partial  and  peculiar  to  this  man,  or 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  375 

that  man,  but  from  what  is  universal,  the  Soul  of  all 
our  souls.  He  would  think  for  himself.  Nothing  could 
pervert  his  moral  judgment ;  neither  the  eclat  of  great- 
ness, neither  the  antiquity  of  an  ungodly  custom  become 
a  law,  nor  yet  the  respectability  of  sin  long  wonted  to 
the  world.  Timid  though  he  was,  and  self-distrustful  to 
a  great  degree,  yet  when  conscience  spoke  he  heeded 
neither  the  roar  of  the  little,  nor  the  clamor  of  the  great 
which  excites  that  roar.  He  saw  through  the  shadows 
and  into  the  reality  of  life.  Many  knew  more  of  things 
as  they  are  ;  few  men  have  been  so  true  to  things  as 
they  ought  to  be.  With  him,  to  see  what  is  right,  was 
to  begin  to  move  towards  it,  for  he  made  no  distinction 
between  things  right  and  things  to  be  done.  He  was 
single-hearted  in  his  efforts,  aiming  at  no  personal  ag- 
grandizement. He  forgot  himself  in  finding  the  truth. 
He  did  not  ask  for  the  consequences  of  right  action 
or  riglit  thought,  but  took  them  when  they  came.  He 
trusted  God,  as  a  child  its  father,  and  did  not  fear  to 
be  true  to  truth.  This  moral  simplicity  was  beautiful 
above  praise. 

Again,  he  was  eminently  a  pious  man.  Nothing  was 
more  marked  in  him  than  his  piety.  His  "  life  was  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,"  to  use  the  mystical  expression  of 
the  apostle.  His  piety  did  not  stare  you  in  the  face, 
standing  in  the  aisles  of  a  church,  as  the  false  pietism 
of  the  sects.  It  was  not  sanctimonious  — piety  never  is  — 
nor  ascetic,  and  least  of  all  desirous  to  be  seen.  It  went 
on  its  way  like  a  brook  "  in  the  leafy  month  of  June," 
that  takes  no  pains  to  woo  your  eye  or  ear  to  its  musical 
and  sparkling  waters  ;  but  come  when  you  will  come,  in 
serene  weather  or  in  cloudy  days,  day  time  or  night 
time,  it  murmurs  sweetly  as  it  goes;  break  on  it  in -the 
thicket,  cross  it  in  the  meadow,  it  welcomes  you  with 


376  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

the  same  pleasing  note ;  flowing  it  sings,  and  singing 
flows.  His  piety  gave  the  sweetness  of  its  tone  to  his 
writings.  All  his  maturer  works  are  deeply  religious. 
Take  any  one  of  his  treatises,  on  War,  Slavery,  Educa- 
tion, Temperance,  its  religious  character  meets  you  per- 
petually as  light  in  the  heavens,  which  is  all  about  you 
as  a  continual  presence.  He  does  not  insult  the  reader 
with  it,  as  some  writers,  nor  ask  you  to  admire  it.  But 
there  it  is  to  charm,  not  repel.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  a 
writer,  since  the  days  of  John  the  evangelist,  in  whom 
piety  is  so  universal,  so  lovely,  and  above  all  so  attrac- 
tive. It  has  all  the  strength  of  Saint  Augustine,  without 
his  extravagant  asceticism ;  all  the  sweetness  of  Kempis 
or  Hugh  de  St.  Victor,  or  Behme  or  Law,  without  their 
dreamy  mysticism  and  aqueous  sentimentality.  In  this 
respect  he  was  the  Ft'nelon  of  the  Protestants ;  yes,  more 
and  better  than  Fenelon,  for  his  heart  did  not  conflict 
with  his  head ;  and  he  needed  not,  like  the  good  Arch- 
bishop of  Cambray,  degrade  man  to  exalt  God,  nor  forbid 
thinking  and  action,  that  we  might  feel  the  more.  He 
trusted  God  throughout,  and  not  only  as  far  as  he  could 
see,  for  in  him  faith  was  developed  as  well  as  sense  or 
intellect.  "Were  there  days  of  trouble,  —  as  there  is 
always  thunder  in  the  sky,  and  he  lived  through  stormy 
times  and  died  when  there  was  no  settled  serenity,  —  he 
did  not  fear,  but  confided.  He  lay  low  in  the  hand  of 
his  God,  and  was  warmed  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father  of 
all.  Perfect  love  cast  out  his  fear.  Why  should  it  not  ? 
He  felt  the  Spirit  of  Christ  within  him,  and  loved  Jesus, 
who  helped  him  come  to  God.  His  piety  was  so  strong 
and  ever  flowing,  that  it  affected  his  tones  and  his  very 
looks.  A  worldly  man  must  have  felt  rebuked  in  his 
presence,  as  by  an  angel.  He  found  God  everywhere : 
not  only  in  the  church,  but  wherever  his  footstep  trod  ; 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  377 

ill  the  sounds  of  ocean,  where  God  holds  in  the  Avaters 
with  a  leash  of  sand ;  in  the  bloom  of  the  crocus  beside 
his  door-step  in  winter ;  in  the  ribs  and  veins  of  a  leaf ; 
in  the  sounds  of  nature,  so  full  of  poetry,  —  the  grass, 
the  leaves,  the  drowsy  beetles,  the  contented  kine ;  in 
the  summer  wind,  that  came  to  the  window  at  nightfall 
and  played  in  the  ringlets  of  his  children's  hair ;  in  the 
light  that  mantles  over  the  western  sky,  as  the  sun  goes 
down  ;  in  the  fires  that  shine  there,  beautiful  creatures, 
all  night  long  ;  in  the  star  that  anticipates  the  day,  which 
looked  gently  through  his  window,  consoling  him  for  the 
loss  of  sleep.  His  piety  was  like  an  old  Hebrew's  in  a 
Christian  soul.  He  saw  God  always  before  his  face. 
God  led  him  in  his  truth,  and  taught  him  the  secret  of 
the  Lord. 

More  than  any  man  I  have  known,  he  had  confidence 
in  God.  He  saw  him  in  the  world,  where  they  are 
doubly  blind  who  cannot  see  him ;  he  saw  him  in  the 
history  of  man ;  yes,  in  man's  darkest  day,  a  great  waken- 
ing light,  a  pillar  of  fire  guiding  us  from  lowness  and 
rudeness  to  loveliness  of  life.  He  knew  the  Father  of 
all  had  taken  care  of  his  own  world  in  times  past,  and 
did  not  doubt  he  would  do  so  in  time  to  come,  though 
man  did  not  see  how.  He  saw  God  in  every  step  this 
side  the  grave ;  and  when  that  opens  its  gates,  and 
the  soul  shakes  off  the  body,  he  knew  the  eternal  light 
niust  needs  roll  through. 

It  has  often  been  said  of  what  is  sometimes  called 
"liberal  Christianity,"  that  it  is  not  favorable  to  piety. 
Dr.  Channing  was  a  perpetual  reproof  of  the  uncharita- 
ble assertion.  His  writings  made  religion  life,  beau- 
tiful life.  In  most  of  what  are  called  "  religious  books," 
what  is  set  forth  as  Christianity  appears  as  a  very  dull 
thing ;  cold,  ascetic,  lachrymose ;  it  insults  your  manli- 


3(8  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

ness ;  casts  you  off  from  sunny  and  fresh  nature  ;  lays 
a  rude  hand  on  the  most  blameless  enjoyments,  as  if 
cheerfulness  were  a  mistake.  They  may  make  you  a 
monk,  not  a  man.  The  practical  works  of  the  accom- 
plished Taylor,  the  ascetic  Baxter,  even  of  Fenelon, 
Foster,  and  Law,  make  religion  severe  and  dreadful. 
The  writings  of  Dr.  Channing  have  just  the  opposite 
effect.  Religion  appears  in  her  native  garb,  not  in  the 
regimentals  of  a  sect ;  an  angel,  not  a  nun.  Life  is  made 
more  than  belief,  and  love  is  placed  higher  than  grimace. 
It  would  be  saying  but  little,  to  assert  that  Dr.  Channing 
has  done  more  than  any  of  the  Christian  writers  to  make 
religion  beautiful  and  winning.  He  saw — still  more, 
he  felt  —  its  accordance  with  man's  constitution,  not 
viewing  it  as  a  thing  foreign  to  our  nature,  but  as  the  liv- 
ing of  the  life  God  appoints.  How  could  it  fail  to  be 
lovely  ? 

Then,  again,  he  loved  mankind.  He  did  not  believe 
moral  laws  were  beautiful  in  thought,  but  become  de- 
formed when  applied  to  life,  and  therefore  good  for 
nothing  when  tried,  and  so  he  attempted  not  to  amend 
the  laws  of  God.  He  did  not  think  piety  had  done  its 
work  when  it  said  grace,  or  rose  from  prayer.  Though, 
by  the  peculiar  and  natural  bent  of  his  mind,  more  medi- 
tative than  philosophic,  more  mystical  than  rationalistic, 
he  was  yet  the  last  to  go  astray  in  pictistic  vagaries,  and 
revel  in  the  flowers  of  sentimental  devotion,  bringing 
back  nothing  to  the  hive  that  sheltered  and  fed  him. 
Oh,  no.  His  love  of  God  did  not  hinder  him  from  lov- 
ing man.  Did  love  of  God  ever  do  this  ?  No,  but  the 
love  of  self  often,  in  religion's  name.  His  piety  helped 
him  to  a  good  life  of  thought  and  action.  His  religion 
and  reason,  his  love  of  God  and  love  of  man,  walked 
together  and   did  not  fall  out  by  the  way.     His  vine 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  379 

proved  its  planting  by  bearing  much  fruit.  He  loved 
man  as  man ;  not  because  he  was  educated,  or  famous, 
or  rich,  but  for  the  immortal  nature  that  was  in  him, 
the  affections  that  never  die,  the  spirit  capable  of  un- 
bounded growth  and  infinite  glory.  He  looked  deeper 
than  the  wrappage  which  circumstances  place  about 
mankind.  He  saw  the  man  in  the  beggar.  To  him  the 
greatest  man  was  he  who  conformed  most  nearly  to  the 
divine  image.  "  The  greatest  man  is  he  who  chooses 
the  right  with  invincible  resolution,  who  resists  the 
sorest  temptations  from  within  and  without,  who  bears 
the  heaviest  burden  cheerfully,  who  is  calmest  in  storms 
and  most  fearless  under  menace  and  frowns,  whose  reli- 
ance on  truth,  on  virtue,  on  God,  is  most  unfaltering." 
Save  only  the  words  of  Jesus  in  the  Gospels,  I  know  of 
nothing,  in  the  whole  compass  of  human  literature,  that 
partakes  so  largely  of  this  love,  as  his  eloquent  works. 
How  he  plead  for  man  against  the  tyranny  of  ages  past, 
the  tyranny  of  the  present,  the  despotism  of  social  insti- 
tutions, the  tyranny  of  the  strong  over  the  weak  !  Still, 
his  pleading  was  not  a  "  woe-unto-you,"  but  a  "  Father- 
forgive-them."  You  turn  from  the  writings  of  the  few 
great  men  and  the  multitude  of  little  men  that  are  read 
amongst  us,  and  in  his  page  you  find  words  which  come 
straightway  out  of  a  heart  full  of  love  —  love  to  all. 
His  affection  was  strong  and  manly,  not  that  puling 
sentimentalism  which  takes  a  friend  by  the  hand  in  a 
conference-room,  saying,  "  Oh,  how  I  love  you,  my 
brother,"  and  after  that  has  no  more  that  it  can  do ; 
nor  was  it  of  that  sublimated  sort  which  loves  man  as 
an  abstraction,  but  treads  individuals,  concrete  men, 
under  foot  in  so  doing.  No,  it  was  a  love  of  making 
them  greater,  wiser,  better.  Though  not  found  in  the 
busy  walks  of  men,  few  had  so  many  that  made  him 


380  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

their  adviser  in  spiritual  things,  and  sought  his  sympathy 
in  distress.  He  was  disinterested  and  forgetful  of  him- 
self to  a  degree  rare  among  men.  If  he  saw  an  error  or 
a  sin  of  society,  he  told  of  it.  Distrustful  of  himself  in 
many  things,  —  so  mild  and  meek  that  it  seemed  he  would 
not  break  the  wing  of  a  perished  fly,  —  when  sin  came 
before  him,  no  fire  was  so  scorching  as  his  words ;  no 
man's  indignation  like  his.  He  did  not  ask.  What  will 
my  friends  or  my  foes  think  of  7ne  for  doing  or  saying 
this  ?  but  what  he  thought  right  to  do  and  say,  he  did 
without  fear.  Living  in  a  place  where  he  said  it  was 
"  difficult  to  draw  a  long  breath,"  surrounded  by  men 
of  views  widely  different  from  his  own,  dependent  upon 
them  in  some  measure,  when  duty  called  him  he  did 
not  ask  what  they  favored,  what  they  feared,  or  what 
they  would  tolerate,  or  what  they  would  tliink  of  him, 
knowing  that  the  consequences  of  truth  God  will  take 
care  of.  A  man  truly  religious  —  of  whom  should  he 
be  afraid  ? 

His  self-discipline  was  not  the  less  remarkable.  His 
self-command,  it  is  said,  was  not  a  natural  gift,  but 
bought  with  its  price.  In  youth,  we  are  told,  he  was 
hasty,  impetuous.  His  controversial  writings  in  theology, 
printed  many  years  ago,  do  not  discover  the  same  philo- 
sopliical  composure  and  unconscious  moderation  that 
mark  those  of  at  least  one  of  his  early  fellow-soldiers, 
and  wdiich  distinguish  his  own  later  works.  He  knew 
the  power  of  genius,  but  believed  in  industry  none  the 
less.  His  tranquillity  of  mind,  his  acquaintance  with 
the  world, —  great  for  a  man  so  recluse,  —  his  clearness  of 
insight,  his  skill  in  separating  the  unimportant  from 
the  essential  points  of  any  case,  his  accurate  discrimi- 
nations of  character, —  all  these  were  the  result  of  diligent 
cultivation,  far  more  than  of  natural  gifts.     Had  he  not 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.   CHANNING.  381 

cultivated  the  affections  and  religious  sentiments  with 
the  same  care  as  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties,  to 
produce  that  piety  and  love  so  conspicuous  in  him  ? 

Such,  then,  were  the  sources  of  his  influence,  a  foun- 
tain of  healing  water  fed  by  five  perennial  springs ;  his 
moral  fidelity,  his  pious  heart,  his  love  of  man,  his  for- 
getfulness  of  self,  and  the  careful  cultivation  of  his  gifts, 
—  these  were  the  secret  of  his  eloquence  and  power. 
As  a  man  he  must  have  had  his  faults,  certainly  his 
imperfections,  which  some  one,  I  trust,  will  relate,  for 
of  such  a  man  the  faults  should  be  portrayeel,  as  the 
scars  of  a  hero. 

With  such  sources  to  draw  from,  how  could  he  fail 
to  be  eloquent;  yes,  to  have  what  puts  eloquence  to 
shame,  —  the  persuasive  power  of  simple  truth  ?  All  men, 
with  hearts  in  their  bosoms  and  eyes  not  blinded  by 
prejudice,  could  see  the  truth  when  it  was  spoken,  —  a 
truth  which  carried  the  seal  of  its  witness  along  with  it. 
How  could  they  do  less  than  respect  it  and  yield  ?  It 
need  not  be  said  that  such  a  man  came  gradually  to 
the  truth  he  taught.  God  rains  down  truth  on  no  man, 
but  invites  all  to  draw  at  her  well  for  themselves.  There 
were  men,  good  as  himself,  that  thought  differently  on 
many  points,  and  did  as  such  men  always  do,  —  opposed 
him  with  a  good  man's  weapon.  It  is  needless  to  dwell 
on  the  treatment  he  must  meet  from  others  of  a  different 
character,  and  tell  how  the  envious  assailed  him  with 
venomous  tooth,  though  only  to  poison  themselves ;  how 
the  wicked  and  the  worldly  mocked  at  him  because  he 
was  not  one  of  them !  I  need  not  tell  how  men  in  pews 
and  men  in  pulpits  lifted  up  their  voice  against  him  ; 
how  some  "  could  not  understand  him  ; "  how  others  saw 
only  to  gnash  on  him  with  their  teeth.  You  know  that 
such  things  must  needs  be ;  that  the  beginning  thereof 


382  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

is  very  ancient,  and  the  end  not  yet.  It  is  useless  to 
stop  in  this  place  to  tell  how  such  things  befell  him  and 
how  he  bore  them,  while  he  moved  through  the  years, 
as  to  tell  of  the  dust  that  annoys  a  traveller,  or  the  mire 
that  clings  to  his  chariot  wheels,  or  the  dogs  that  bark 
at  him  as  he  approaches  some  village  inn.  These  things 
must  be,  and  the  pilgrim  leaves  them  behind  and  fares 
on.  But  it  is  worth  while  to  tell  that  he  bore  this  trial 
bravely  and  like  a  religious  man.  He  did  not  give  abuse 
for  abuse,  coldness  for  coldness.  Neglect  awakened  no 
anger,  insult  no  indignation.  He  gave  his  opponents 
no  harsh  words  for  their  railing,  no  scorn,  no  contempt, 
but  pitied  their  ignorance  and  continued  to  love.  What 
else  could  a  Christian  wish  to  do  ?  The  sun  shines  on 
the  unthankful  and  the  unmerciful,  though  they  offend 
God's  laws  each  day. 

Let  us  now  consider  more  particularly  the  work  to 
which  he  devoted  himself.  He  engaged  in  the  eeform 
OF  THEOLOGY,  in  common  with  many  of  his  contempora- 
ries. We  all  of  us  know  something  of  the  present  staie 
of  theology,  in  what  are  called  the  more  "  liberal 
churches ;  "  we  know  how  slowly  the  voice  of  truth  gets 
heard,  or  even  spoken  in  theological  matters.  But  it  is 
better  in  our  time  than  in  days  gone  by.  When  Dr. 
Channing  came  to  the  pulpit,  the  gloomy  doctrines  of 
that  austere  theology  which  our  fathers  embraced,  pre- 
vailed far  more  widely  than  now,  and  in  a  form  more 
repulsive  than  the  present.  The  common  doctrine  of 
the  churches  respecting  the  character  of  God,  the  nature 
of  man,  the  terms  of  salvation,  the  future  condition  of 
the  greater  part  of  mankind,  were  such  as  to  make  the 
flesh  creep  with  horror ;  doctrines  which,  if  preached  to 
you  at  this  day,  I  trust,  would  drive  you  forth  to  the 
fields  to  learn  your  religion  in  the  flowers  and  the  trees. 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  388 

The  common  theology  made  God  a  Kino;,  not  a  Father ; 
Christ  the  master,  not  the  brother  of  us  all ;  and  man  a 
worm,  a  child  of  God's  wrath,  not  the  son  of  his  love, 
made  in  the  Father's  image.  These  views  still  prevail 
in  the  greater  part  of  the  New  England  churches ;  but 
they  are  modified,  softened  here  and  there,  and  beside, 
there  is  amongst  us  a  "  more  liberal "  sect  called  Uni- 
tarians, who  disclaim  the  most  revolting  doctrines  of 
the  old  school ;  a  sect  halting,  indeed,  it  seems,  between 
life  and  death,  between  the  liberty  of  the  spirit  and  the 
thraldom  of  the  letter,  but  still  an  auspicious  and  blessed 
sign  of  the  times. 

When  Dr.  Channing  came  to  the  pulpit,  the  great 
protest  against  theological  tyranny  had  not  been  made. 
Many  had  abandoned  in  silence  the  more  repulsive  dog- 
mas ;  there  had  been  already  much  freedom  of  thought 
in  theology ;  many  saw  that  religion  was  one  thing  and 
our  notions  about  it  something  quite  different.  There 
had  been,  fifty  years  before,  a  Bryant  at  Quincy,  a  Shute 
and  a  Gay  at  Hingham,  a  Brown  at  Cohassct ;  above  all, 
perhaps,  a  Mayhew  at  Boston,  one  whose  word  and 
works  provoked  the  spirit  of  freedom  to  fight  the  politi- 
cal war  for  Independence,  and  the  war  yet  more  difficult 
and  not  so  soon  ended,  the  war  for  freedom  in  theology 
and  religion.  What  need  to  speak  of  others,  clergy- 
men and  laymen,  that  shared  and  encouraged  the  work  ? 
Dr.  Freeman  and  his  church  had,  formally  and  publicly, 
rejected  much  of  the  "  Athanasian  theology,"  as  early 
as  1785,  and  —  received  their  reward  from  the  church 
and  the  clergy,  for  the  pains  they  took  to  "  search  the 
scriptures "  and  "  hold  fast  what  was  good."  A  spirit 
of  new  liberality  was  dawning  upon  our  churches.  Some 
welcomed  the  light  with  loud  hozannas ;  some  received 
it,  but  said  nothing;   but  others  closed  the  windows, 


384  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

sighing  for  the  darkness  of  Egypt,  and  saying,  "  Oh 
Lord,  we  pray  thee  give  us  no  more  light."  There  were 
great  difficulties  to  overcome,  but  there  were  earnest 
men  to  overcome  them,  brave  men,  godly  teachers  set 
for  that  work.  A  battle  was  to  be  fought ;  they  did  not 
provoke  the  charge,  but  stood  each  in  his  lot,  with  his 
loins  girded  and  his  weapon  bright.  It  is  needless  to 
repeat  their  names.  The  time  has  not  come  to  speak 
worthily  of  them.  Some  of  their  number  still  linger  on 
the  earth,  while  the  greater  part  have  gone  where  they 
can  be  learned  Avithout  books,  wise  without  study,  and 
free  without  fighting  always  for  their  life.  Honor  to 
those  men  who  first  broke  through  the  darkness  and 
dared  to  think.  They  stood  together  like  men ;  they 
fought  like  brave  men,  long  and  well.  They  saw  not  all 
things,  but  they  did  not  tell  of  what  they  never  saw. 
They  put  confidence  in  man,  and  trusted  God. 

Among  this  band  of  theological  reformers.  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  stood  conspicuous.  But  he  was  never  in  the  fore- 
most rank  of  the  movement;  not  a  discoverer,  but 
defender.  Read  his  writings,  from  the  first  contro- 
versial letter,  or  the  ordination  sermon  in  Salem,  1815, 
to  the  sermon  at  Philadelphia,  twenty-six  years  later, 
and  you  see  how  gradual  was  his  progress  when  meas- 
ured by  the  rapid  strides  of  some  of  his  brethren.  He 
parted  reluctantly  with  many  old  doctrines  which  had 
little  of  reason  or  Scripture  to  support  them.  He  was 
slow  in  examination,  suspicious  of  new  things,  cautious 
in  his  statements,  feeling  the  ground  before  him  as  he 
trod ;  but  not  Monadnock  stands  firmer  on  its  base,  than 
he  stood  on  his  convictions,  when  once  established. 

In  our  day,  there  is  a  talk  about  "liberal  Christianity," 
and  the  term  has  a  meaning;  for  what  is  popularly 
called   Christianity  was   never  liberal,   since  the  early 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  385 

age.  God  grant  it  may  be.  Dr.  Channing  has  done 
much  to  show  that  Christianity  is  not  necessarily  con- 
nected with  a  foul  system  of  doctrines  ;  much  to  lead 
men  to  a  sound  theology,  which  rests  on  the  facts  of 
the  case ;  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  has  done  directly 
to  liberalize  theology  in  all  the  sects.  In  this  work, 
however,  he  was  not  called  on,  as  Paul  in  his  first  trial, 
to  stand  alone.  He  was  never,  in  his  earlier  years,  "  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness  ; "  there  was  never 
a  time  when  "  all  forsook  him  and  fled."  No,  there 
were  men,  older  and  younger  than  himself,  engaged  in 
that  war,  —  a  Bentley,  a  Kirkland,  a,  Bancroft,  a  Wor- 
cester, whom  the  Lord  has  taken  ;  a  Ware,  who  reposes 
in  peaceful  age  after  his  honorable  and  noble  toil;  a 
Norton,  whose  talents,  learning,  dialectic  skill,  were 
devoted  to  the  defence  of  freedom,  whose  ponderous 
mace  has  done  such  service  for  truth.  I  need  not  men- 
tion others,  men  perhaps  valiant  as  these,  certainly 
as  true.  Conspicuous  among  these  men  stood  Dr. 
Channing. 

This  battle  was  fought  as  other  theological  battles ; 
there  were  hard  words  on  both  sides ;  a  great  many 
hard  words  on  one  side.  The  war  they  began  is  not 
yet  over,  the  principles  which  lay  concealed,  it  may  be, 
at  the  bottom  of  all  are  not  yet  carried  out.  How  the 
old  questions  of  theology  are  noiv  met,  it  is  not  needful 
to  say,  nor  to  waste  time  in  describing  how  the  broad 
banner,  once  borne  in  the  van,  on  which  great  men 
had  emblazoned  the  motto,  Man's  Freedom  and  God's 
Truth,  is  now  draggled  in  the  dust.  Let  this  subject 
pass  for  some  other  time.  But  this  must  be  said  of  Dr. 
Channing,  that  if  he  was  slow  in  coming  to  the  princi- 
ples and  the  method  of  a  liberal  theology,  he  never 
forsook  them,  but  went  farther  than  his  former  friends 

25 


386  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

to  some  conclusions  logically  unavoidable,  but  now 
vehemently  denied.  He  did  not — certainly  not  in  his 
later  years  —  quarrel  with  a  theology,  because  its  circle 
was  wider  than  his  own.  It  is  not  saying  too  much 
to  declare,  that  no  one  of  our  century,  in  England  or 
America,  has  done  so  much  as  he  to  set  forth  the  great- 
ness of  man's  nature,  the  loveliness  of  Jesus,  and  the 
goodness  of  God.  In  this  respect  he  is  the  father  of  us 
all.  What  a  welcome  did  a  "  great  truth  "  meet  from 
him ;  what  a  cordial  hand  did  he  extend  to  every  ear- 
nest soul  struggling  through  the  darkness  and  calling  for 
aid !  He  did  not  fear  inquiry,  for  he  knew  Truth  not 
only  takes  care  of  herself  but  of  us.  He  did  not  trust 
God  for  nothing ;  his  trust  made  him  fearless  and  strong. 
He  did  not  see  all  the  truth  that  will  be  seen  in  the  next 
century.  He  did  what  was  better,  he  helped  men  to  see 
somewhat  of  truth  in  this,  and  blessed  all  that  aided 
others  to  see.  Preachers  in  their  pulpit,  and  solitary 
scholars  in  their  closet,  felt  stronger  for  his  sympathy 
with  freedom  and  truth.  We  may  well  say,  "  The  chariot 
of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof,"  for  a  greater  than 
Elijah  has  gone  up  to  the  sky.  He  was  taken  at  a  time 
when  needed  most.  But  God  governs  the  world  wisely, 
and  will  see  to  the  affairs  of  truth ;  for,  as  the  proverb 
says,  "  When  men  are  silent,  stones  speak." 

Dr.  Channing's  view  of  Christianity  was  eminently 
beautiful.  With  him  it  was  the  religion  of  love.  It 
showed  him  God  as  a  Father,  watching  over  his  children, 
and  correcting  them  for  their  good  ;  presiding  in  all  the 
affairs  of  the  world,  and  overruling  accidents,  seemingly 
the  most  untoward,  for  the  good  of  all.  He  saw  Iiim 
rebuking  the  sin,  encouraging  the  goodness,  answering 
the  prayers,  and  blessing  the  heart  of  all  men.  He  felt 
safe  in  God's  world.     He  saw  in  Jesus,  the  archetype 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  C MANNING.  387 

of  man,  the  religious  and  moral  ideal  to  which  all  should 
aspire.  He  looked  on  Christianity  as  destined  to  a  vast 
work  that  shall  never  end.  Were  it  to  do  no  more 
than  it  had  done,  it  were  a  failure.  It  was  to  civilize 
the  world  ;  to  make  the  strong  the  guardians,  not  tyrants, 
of  the  weak ;  to  annihilate  war ;  to  make  earth  a  better 
place,  and  man  more  fit  to  live  on  it.  It  was  to  educate 
men,  developiug  all  the  powers  of  mankind,  physical, 
intellectual,  affectional,  moral,  religious.  Christianity 
was  a  means  divinely  appointed  for  this  great  end.  In 
it  was  the  explanation  of  the  world's  early  history,  the 
promise  of  its  future  glory. 

He  turned  his  attention  also  to  another  branch  of  the 
great  work  in  the  salvation  of  man,  —  to  the  reform  of 
SOCIETY.  Here  his  courage  and  influence  were  greater 
than  in  the  theological  reform.  Here  he  was  more  alone. 
True,  he  had  his  friends  who  went  with  him,  and  before 
him,  to  this  work,  but  not  men  of  the  same  stamp  as 
in  the  earlier  reform.  Some  differed  from  him  con- 
scientiously, and  stood  back;  some  were  taking  their 
ease  in  their  inn  ;  some  were  busy  about  particular  con- 
cerns of  man,  —  the  fishing,  the  manufacturing,  the  ship- 
ping interest,  —  but  forgot,  it  seems,  the  great  interest  of 
man,  to  be  cared  for,  not  by  neglecting  the  parts,  indeed, 
but  by  attending  to  the  whole. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  ministry,  without  neglecting 
more-  practical  subjects,  Dr.  Channing  spoke  often  and 
eloquently  of  the  principles  of  religion  and  virtue,  the 
greatness  of  man,  the  goodness  of  God,  the  eternity 
of  truth,  the  beauty  of  self-denial,  the  necessity  of  con- 
forming to  the  law  of  God.  When  men  heard  this, 
many  were  moved  by  his  eloquent  truth,  but  some  said  : 
"  This  is  very  beautiful ;  it  may  be  very  true,  but  it  is 
very  high ;  too  high  for  this  world,  we  are  certain ;  too 


388  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

low  for  the  next,  we  are  afraid.  He  talks  to  angels, 
and  not  men.  He  talks  of  truth  and  justice  as  if  they 
were  not  abstractions.  We  cannot  understand  him." 
In  later  years  he  applied  these  doctrines  to  life.  The 
greatness  of  human  nature  was  his  favorite  theme.  But 
he  saw  man  degraded,  insensible  alike  of  his  duties  and 
his  rights.  He  preached  the  duties  and  the  truths 
belonging  to  this  subject. 

He  saw  the  vice  of  intemperance  belittling  the  facul- 
ties and  impoverishing  the  resources  of  man.  He  lifted 
his  voice  against  the  sin ;  and  of  all  that  has  been 
written  on  this  fertile  theme,  perhaps  nothing  is  more 
just  and  wise  than  his  Temperance  Address.  It  has 
counsel  not  to  be  neglected  at  the  present  day. 

He  turned  also  to  the  great  subject  of  education.  He 
saw  its  value,  and  felt  the  necessity  of  a  work  very 
different  from  what  is  commonly  conceived  of.  Had 
man  great  powers  of  mind,  affection,  soul  ?  They  must 
be  developed  by  careful  cultivation.  He  demanded  an 
education,  for  all  men,  far  in  advance  of  what  many 
deem  sufficient,  or  even  possible.  He  thought  that  the 
resources  and  talent  of  tlie  country  could  not  be  better 
employed  than  in  building  up  a  nobler  population,  better 
men  and  women,  able  to  understand  the  world,  and  fit 
to  live  in  it.  It  was  no  one-sided  culture,  but  the  per- 
fection of  all  the  faculties,  that  he  demanded. 

He  turned  his  attention  to  one  other  theme,  the  sub- 
ject of  SLAVERY,  "which  makes  us  the  by-word  and 
scorn  of  the  nations."  I  know  it  is  a  tender  subject ; 
one  which  many  think  must  not  be  touched  upon  with 
us,  "who  have  no  concern"  —  so  it  is  said  —  "in  the 
matter."  Against  this  national  crime,  this  hideous  sin 
of  a  free  people,  whose  motto  is,  "  All  are  born  free  ; " 
a  Christian  people,  whose   religion   says,  "  Love   your 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  389 

brother,"  —  against  this  sin  he  uplifted  his  voice  with 
more  than  even  his  usual  eloquence  and  persuasive 
power,  but  not  without  his  customary  charity  and  mod- 
eration. No  subject,  of  late  years,  engrossed  so  much 
of  his  attention  as  this.  None  of  his  writings,  I  may 
safely  say,  does  so  much  honor  to  his  head  and  heart  as 
on  this  theme.  I  know  there  are  men,  good  and  wise 
men,  who  scruple  not  to  condemn  his  course ;  others, 
who  think  slavery  is  a  "  very  clever  thing  to  all  parties ;" 
for  the  slave  is  fed  and  clothed,  lives,  not  among  savage 
blacks,  but  Christian  whites,  and  the  master  can  get 
more  sugar  or  cotton  with  slaves  than  without  them  !  I 
know  there  are  "good  and  wise  men"  who  would  not 
have  any  one  cry  out  for  the  wrongs  of  two  or  three 
millions  Of  souls  held  in  the  foulest  bondage,  because, 
to  their  owners,  these  souls  are  worth  some  twelve 
hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  dollars  must  be 
kept,  though  the  souls  be  lost.  I  know  there  are  men, 
"  Christian  men,"  as  the  world  uses  that  term,  who 
think  the  righting  of  wrongs  belongs  to  anybody  but 
themselves.  Dr.  Channing  was  not  of  this  number. 
His  mind  was  early  turned  to  this  sin,  and  his  zeal 
against  it  never  abated.  On  this  ground  also  he  had 
his  predecessors,  men  whose  self-denying  zeal  is  so  well 
known  that  their  names  need  not  be  spoken  here.  In 
the  warfare  against  slavery,  he  encountered  the  abuse,  — 
that  is  the  true  word  for  the  treatment  he  met,  —  the 
abuse  of  both  parties.  The  one  condemned  him  for 
meddling  with  the  matter  at  all,  and  could  "  never  for- 
give his  speaking  about  slavery ;  that  must  be  left  to 
the  slave-holders ; "  the  other  condemned  him  for  not 
going  the  same  length,  or  in  the  same  way,  with  tliem- 
selves.  But  did  it  never  happen,  in  times  of  excitement, 
that  he  who  was  condemned  by  the  extremes  of  both 


390  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

parties  was  not  very  far  from  the  right  ?  His  opposi- 
tion to  this  national  sin  brought  on  him  more  obloquy 
than  all  his  theological  heresies,  early  and  late.  His 
tracts  on  slavery  have  been  widely  read,  and  perhaps 
have  had  more  influence  than  any  other  contemporary 
works  in  turning  the  attention  of  wise  and  serious  men 
to  this  crime  ;  perhaps  more  than  all  others.  Here,  too, 
he  was  not  alone ;  others  went  with  him  to  the  work, 
and  got  honorable  scars.  Above  all  others  in  his  es- 
teem, there  was  one,  united  to  him  in  the  closest  ties  of 
friendship,  sharing  his  aspirations  and  his  sympathies. 
Shoulder  to  shoulder  they  went  to  this  work,  each 
encouraging  the  other ;  the  same  spirit  seemed  in  them 
both,  and  they  took  sweet  counsel  together.  In  the 
inscrutable  wisdom  of  Him,  without  whom  not  a  spar- 
row falleth  to  the  ground,  that  one  was  torn  from  us, 
leaving  us,  indeed,  tears  for  his  departure,  but  joy,  also, 
for  his  life.  Honor  to  him,  honor  to  both.  Yes,  honor 
to  all  who  dare  lift  up  their  voice  for  freedom,  and  for 
man.  The  tyranny  of  opinion  is  the  most  stifling  of  all 
tyranny ;  but  to  true  men  like  these,  it  was  neither  let 
nor  bar. 

He  aimed  to  improve  society  in  its  general  principles 
and  entire  framework.  He  saw  that  we  live  in  a  state 
unchristian  and  not  rational ;  that  wars  prevail,  and 
must  be  prepared  for ;  that  we  prevent  crime  by  reme- 
dies almost  as  bad  as  the  disease ;  that  laws  do  not  reach 
all  offenders,  perhaps  not  the  most  heinous ;  that  the 
goods  of  society  do  not  always  fall  into  the  hands  of 
their  primitive  owners  ;  that  some  men  are  losers  by 
what  we  call  civilization ;  that  laws  and  institutions  do 
not  always  make  us  more  free,  but  weave  webs  of  con- 
ventionalism about  us,  belittling  the  might  of  man.  He 
saw  that  the  strong  use  the  weak  as  their  tools,  and  do 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.   C MANNING.  391 

not  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak,  as  reason  and  relig- 
ion demand.  He  saw,  too,  the  increasing  power  of 
covetousness,  which  is  corrupting  the  whole  people, 
individuals,  legislatures,  yes,  the  nation ;  a  spirit  that 
may  make  the  rich  richer,  but  certainly  the  poor  poorer ; 
which  drives  the  laboring  man  each  year  farther  from 
lionorable  competency.  Against  all  these  he  lifted  up 
his  voice,  thinking  we  were  never  a  rational  nor  a 
Christian  people  till  we  applied  reason  and  religion 
to  all  our  daily  life.  To  dwell  a  moment  on  a  single 
point :  he  loved  freedom,  the  largest  liberty  of  the  sons 
of  God.  He  asked  this  for  himself,  for  all  men,  —  the 
liberty  to  feel  right,  think  right,  do  right.  He  was  jeal- 
ous of  associations,  and  preferred  the  monarchy  of  indi- 
vidual freedom  to  the  democracy  of  a  public  opinion 
forcing  man  to  extremes.  He  found  no  guillotine  nor 
fagots  awaiting  him,  it  is  true,  but  he  did  find  a  tyranny 
of  opinion  destructive  to  all  real  freedom.  I  cannot 
forbear  to  quote  some  of  his  own  words  on  this  subject, 
they  are  so  full  of  wisdom  and  instruction  at  this  day : 
"  Shall  I  say  a  word  of  evil  of  tliis  good  city  of  Boston  ? 
Among  all  its  virtues  it  does  not  abound  in  a  tolerant 
spirit.  The  yoke  of  opinion  is  a  heavy  one,  often  crush- 
ing individuality  of  judgment  and  action.  No  city 
in  the  world  is  governed  so  little  by  a  police,  and  so 
much  by  mutual  inspection,  and  what  is  called  public 
sentiment.  .  .  .  Opinion  is  less  individual,  or  runs  more 
into  masses,  and  often  rules  with  a  rod  of  iron.  Un- 
doubtedly opinion,  when  enlightened,  lofty,  pure,  is  a 
useful  sovereign  ;  but  in  the  present  imperfect  state  of 
society  it  has  its  evils  as  well  as  benefits.  It  suppresses 
the  grosser  vices,  rather  than  favors  the  higher  virtues. 
It  favors  public  order,  rather  than  originality  of  thought, 
moral  energy,  and  spiritual  life.     To  prescribe  its  due 


392  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

bounds  is  a  very  difficult  problem ;  were  its  restraints 
wholly  removed,  the  decorum  of  the  pulpit  would  be 
endangered ;  but  that  these  restraints  are  excessive  in 
this  city,  and  especially  in  our  denomination,  that  they 
often  weigh  oppressively  on  the  young  minister,  and 
that  they  often  take  from  ministers  of  all  ages  the 
courage,  confidence,  and  authority  which  their  high  mis- 
sion should  inspire,  cannot,  I  fear,  be  denied.  The 
minister,  here,  on  entering  a  pulpit,  too  often  feels  that 
he  is  to  be  judged  rather  than  to  judge  ;  that  instead  of 
meeting  sinful  men  who  are  to  be  warned  or  saved,  he 
is  to  meet  critics  to  be  propitiated  or  disarmed.  .  .  , 
Formerly  Felix  trembled  before  Paul ;  now  the  suc- 
cessors of  Paul  more  frequently  tremble." 

I  need  not  pause  to  tell  how  his  words  on  these  great 
topics  were  met,  nor  what  echo  they  brought  back.  If 
a  prophet  be  not  stoned  he  is  generally  a  prophet  of 
smooth  things.  "  Blessed,"  said  One  whose  voice  still 
rings  in  the  ears  of  the  world,  — "  blessed  are  ye  when 
men  shall  revile  you  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say 
all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake  .  .  . 
for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which  were  before 
you."  Now  that  he  is  dead,  men  that  made  wide  the 
mouth,  and  drew  out  the  tongue  at  his  zeal,  his  piety, 
his  hope,  his  confidence  in  man  and  God,  may  build  his 
tomb,  and  sing  psalms  to  his  praise. 

But  time  fails  me ;  not  so  the  theme.  Let  us  make 
an  end  of  words.  Here  dies  one  before  whom  nothing 
was  sacred  but  truth.  No  lie  found  shelter  with  him. 
No  fear  affrighted  him.  He  aimed  to  come  up  to  the 
measure  of  a  Christian  man ;  he  went  forward  in  that 
work.  He  was  a  rare  instance  of  a  social  reformer  in 
the  pulpit ;  a  preacher  that  denounced  the  sins  of  his 
time.     He  did  not  preach  about  the  Hebrew  bondsmen 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  393 

and  their  sufferings  eighteen  centuries  before  Christ, 
but  of  American  bondsmen  and  their  sufferings  eighteen 
centuries  after  Christ.  He  did  not  expose  the  idolatry 
and  the  sin  of  Babylon,  but  of  Boston.  He  carried  you 
to  Nazareth,  Gethsemane,  Calvary.  For  what  end  ?  To 
give  you  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  to  do  and  liv'e  now  as  he 
lived  then,  that  you  might  be  a  Christian,  as  he  the 
Christ.  A  catholic  man,  he  did  not  deem  it  necessary 
to  be  a  bigot  before  he  was  a  Christian.  He  saw  a 
religion  deeper  than  the  superficial  notions  of  a  theo- 
logical coterie. 


'to' 


*'  To  sect  or  party  his  large  soul 
Disdained  to  be  confined: 
The  good  he  loved  of  every  name, 
And  prayed  with  all  mankind." 

Educated  in  the  grim  theology  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  he 
slowly  laid  aside  the  prepossessions  of  his  youth ;  but  he 
never  returned  to  an  idol  once  forsaken.  Each  year 
brought  him  new  wisdom  and  greater  power  of  speech. 
He  was  a  rare  example  of  a  man  after  half  a  century  of 
life,  growing  yearly  more  eloquent.  The  cause  is  plain. 
The  eloquence  that  comes  of  tropes,  and  figures,  and 
brilliant  thought,  may  fade  with  the  fading  sense ;  but 
the  eloquence  that  comes  of  a  moral  purpose,  of  a  relig- 
ious trust,  deepens  with  that  zeal,  and  grows  brighter  as 
'that  faith  rises  higher  and  more  high.  How  could  he 
fail  to  become  more  persuasive,  when  his  heart  yearned 
more  and  more  towards  the  children  of  men  ? 

Each  season  the  flowers  and  the  stars  had  a  new 
beauty  in  his  eyes.  Nature  and  man  grew  yearly  in  his 
esteem.  He  has  gone  from  us  ;  in  the  midst  of  his  use- 
fulness was  he  taken  away,  his  eye  not  dim  nor  his 
natural  vigor  abated.      He  has  gone,  and  we  are  left. 


394  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

To  mourn  at  his  loss  ?  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  We  must 
weep.  The  slave  has  lost  that  voice  which  pleaded  so 
eloquently  for  him.  The  poorest  boy  amid  the  Berkshire 
hills  is  the  poorer  for  his  death.  The  babe  born  in  a 
garret  of  yonder  city  is  left  more  friendless  than  before. 
The  mourner  has  one  less  to  wipe  her  tears  away.  The 
selfish  and  wicked  will  hear  no  more  his  pathetic  rebuke, 
so  often  slighted.  The  wise  man  has  lost  a  counsellor ; 
the  humblest  a  friend.  Who  is  there  to  right  the  wrongs 
of  the  oppressed  ?  He  who  has  taken  his  servant  where 
sorrow  and  sighing  cannot  enter.  Shall  we  lament  over 
the  glory  that  has  gone  ?  No,  let  us  take  courage,  and 
rejoice  that  so  much  goodness  has  been  lived  out  in  our 
times,  in  the  midst  of  us.  When  I  compare  him  with 
the  gifted  men  of  England,  whose  mortal  lids  death  has 
closed  within  not  many  years,  —  with  Scott,  Coleridge, 
Byron,  Mackintosh,  Bentham,  Stewart,  Brown, — I  cannot 
but  say  his  influence  is  deeper  and  far  more  elevating 
than  theirs.     But  I  must  end. 

In  the  circumstances  of  his  departure  there  was  some- 
thing exceedingly  pleasant  to  remember.  He  had  spent 
the  summer  in  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic,  among  the 
Berkshire  mountains  ;  his  "  soul  went  forth  amid  the 
vast  works  of  God."  It  had  been  the  pleasantest  period 
of  his  life.  He  was  meditating  a  great  work  which  he 
leaves  not  done.  On  the  first  of  August  he  had  delivered 
an  address  on  the  emancipation  of  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand fellow-men  in  the  West  Indies,  —  a  work  not  inferior 
to  his  best  productions.  He  was  returning  to  his  home. 
Amid  the  lovely  scenery  of  Vermont  he  sickened  and 
lay.  His  family  were  about  him.  His  senses  continued 
to  the  last.  It  was  a  clear  and  balmy  autumn  day, — 
the  Sabbath ;  the  day  of  his  greatest  labors,  when  he 
had  spoken  to  so  many  hearts;  the  day  hallowed  to  all 


TRIBUTE  TO  DR.  CHANNING.  395 

our  minds  by  lovely  and  long-cherished  associations. 
The  sun  went  towards  the  horizon ;  the  slanting  beams 
fell  into  the  chamber.  He  turned  his  face  towards  that 
sinking  orb,  and  he  and  the  sun  went  away  together. 
Each,  as  the  other,  left  "  the  smile  of  his  departure " 
spread  on  all  around:  the  sun  on  the  clouds  ;  he  on  the 
heart. 

For  himself,  a  good  man  cannot  die  poorly  ;  nor  a 
Christian  immature.  There  is  something  lovely  and 
soothing  in  all  this.  He  leaves  not  his  written  thoughts 
unfinished,  perishing,  to  the  world's  loss.  He  was  not 
cut  off  just  thrusting  his  sickle  into  a  field  none  else 
could  reap.  He  was  spared  the  daily  decline  of  age, 
and  has  gone  with  powers  mature,  but  not  faded  ;  happy 
not  only  in  the  prolonged  usefulness  of  his  life,  but  in 
the  opportunity  of  death. 

"  The  joys  of  age  had  crowned  him, 
And  when  he  breathed  his  life  away, 
The  arms  of  friends  were  round  him." 

His  words  will  not  perish ;  the  spirit  of  the  prophet 
not  only  goes  to  the  realm  it  saw  in  vision,  but  reads 
still  its  lessons  here.  As  the  sun,  while  it  shines,  shows 
us  the  earth,  but  hides  the  stars,  so  is  the  presence  of  a 
great  soul.  When  he  is  gone,  the  deeper  and  higher 
lights  of  his  character  come  out,  to  shine  in  their  lovely 
radiance,  while  his  orb  rolls  on  in  never-ending  light. 

The  cares  of  the  world  will  trouble  him  no  more.  He 
enjoys  the  rest  he  contemplated.  His  faith  is  changed 
to  open  vision.  He  enters  the  joy  of  his  Lord.  The 
word  of  his  mouth  —  we  shall  hear  it  no  more  forever ; 
but  his  lesson  remains  for  you  and  me,  —  his  moral  truth, 
his  piety,  his  love,  his  divine  life ;  a  rare  union  of  rare 
qualities !     Who  does  not  feel  the  stronger  and  better 


396  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

that  he  has  lived,  so  great  and  good  ?  We  sliall  all  join 
in  the  last  words  of  his  public  address ;  "  Mighty  pow- 
ers are  at  work  in  the  world.  Who  can  stay  them  ? 
God's  word  has  gone  forth,  and  '  it  cannot  return  to  him 
void.'  A  new  communion  of  the  Christian  spirit,  a  new 
reverence  for  humanity,  a  new  feeling  of  brotherhood 
and  of  all  men's  relation  to  the  common  Father,  —  this 
is  among  the  signs  of  our  times ;  we  see  it ;  do  we  not 
feel  it?  Before  this  all  oppressions  are  to  fall.-  Society, 
silently  pervaded  by  this,  is  to  change  its  aspect  of  uni- 
versal warfare  for  peace.  The  power  of  selfishness,  all- 
grasping  and  seemingly  invincible,  is  to  yield  to  this 
divine  energy.  The  song  of  angels,  '  On  earth  peace,' 
will  not  always  sound  as  fiction.  0  come,  thou  kingdom 
of  heaven,  for  which  we  daily  pray  !  Come,  Friend  and 
Saviour  of  the  race,  who  didst  shed  thy  blood  on  the 
cross  to  reconcile  man  to  man,  and  earth  to  heaven ! 
Come,  ye  predicted  age  of  righteousness  and  love,  for 
which  the  faithful  have  so  long  yearned !  Come,  Father 
Almighty,  and  crown  with  thine  omnipotence  the  humble 
striving  of  thy  children  to  subvert  oppression  and  wrong, 
to  spread  light  and  freedom,  peace  and  joy,  the  truth 
and  spirit  of  thy  Son  through  the  whole  earth ! " 


BEAUTY  IN  THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.       397 


BEAUTY   IN  THE  WORLD   OF  MATTER. 

All  things  are  double,  and  he  hath  made  nothing  imperfect.  —  Ecclesiasti- 
cus  xlii.  24. 

Late  at  night  of  a  Saturday  the  milliner's  girl  shuts 
up  the  close-pent  shop,  and,  through  such  darkness  as 
the  city  allows,  walks  to  her  home  in  the  narrow  street. 
All  day  long,  and  all  the  week,  she  has  been  busy  with 
bonnets  and  caps,  crowns  and  fronts,  capes  and  lace  and 
ribbons  ;  with  gauze,  muslin,  tape,  wire,  bows,  and  arti- 
ficial flowers  ;  with  fits  and  misfits,  bearings  and  unbear- 
ings,  fixings  and  unfisings,  tryings-on  and  takings-off; 
with  looking  in  the  glass  at  "  nods,  becks,  and  wreathed 
smiles,"  —  till  now  the  poor  girl's  head  swims  with  the 
heat  of  the  day  and  the  bad  air  of  the  shop,  and  her  heart 
aches  with  weary  loneliness.  Now,  thankful  for  the  com- 
ing Sunday,  she  sits  down  in  her  little  back  chamber, 
opens  the  blinds,  and  looks  out  at  the  western  sky,  taking 
a  long  breath.  Over  her  head  what  a  spectacle  !  In  the 
western  horizon  there  yet  linger  some  streaks  of  day  ;  a 
pale  red  hue,  toned  up  with  a  little  saffron-colored  light, 
lies  over  Brighton  and  Cambridge  and  Watertown,  —  a 
reflection  it  seems  from  the  great  sea  of  day  which  tosses 
there  far  below  the  horizon,  where  the  people  are  yet  at 
their  work  ;  for  with  them  it  is  still  the  hot,  bustling 
Saturday  afternoon,  and  the  welcome  night  has  not  yet 
reached  them,  putting  her  children  to  bed  with  her  cradle 
hymn,  — 


398  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

"  Hush,  my  child,  lie  still  and  slumber; 
Holy  angels  guard  thy  bed  ; 
Heavenly  blessings  without  number 
Hover  o'er  thy  infant  head!  " 

One  lamp  of  heavenly  light  pours  its  divine  beauty 
into  the  room.  What  a  handsome  thing  it  is,  that  even- 
ing star  !  No  wonder  men  used  to  worship  it  as  a  god- 
dess, at  once  queen  of  beauty  and  of  love,  thinking  while 
unkindly  ice  tipped  the  sphere  and  bounded  the  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  realm,  that  she  ruled  into  one  those  two 
temperate  zones  of  an  ideal  world,  and  even  the  tropic 
belt  between  the  two.  Well,  God  forgive  the  poor 
heathens  !  they  might  have  worshipped  something  meaner 
than  that  "  bright  particular  star,"  full  of  such  signifi- 
cance ;  many  a  Christian  has  gone  further  and  done 
worse,  whom  may  God  also  pity  and  bless  !  If  Kathie's 
eyes  were  bright  enough,  she  could  see  that  this  interior 
star  has  now  the  shape  of  the  new  moon,  and  is  get- 
ting fuller  every  night.  But  what  a  blessed  influence 
both  of  beauty  and  of  love  it  pours  into  that  little 
hired  chamber  !  Then  all  about  the  heavens  there  is 
such  wealth  of  stars  of  all  sizes,  all  colors,  —  steel-gray, 
sapphire,  emerald,  ruby,  white,  yellow,  —  each  one  "  a 
beauty  and  a  mystery  !  " 

"  Twinkle,  twinkle,  little  star  [quoth  she], 
How  I  wonder  what  you  are, 
Up  above  the  world  so  high. 
Like  a  diamond  in  the  sky !  " 

What  a  sight  it  is  !  yet  God  charges  nothing  for  the 
spectacle  ;  the  eye  is  the  only  ticket  of  admission  ;  com- 
monly it  is  also  a  season-ticket  given  for  a  lifetime,  only 
now  and  then  it  is  lost,  and  the  darkened  soul  looks  out 
no  more,  but  only  listens  for  those  other  stars,  which 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.       399 

also  rise  and  set  in  the  audible  deep,  —  for  the  ear  like- 
wise has  its  celestial  hemisphere  and  kingdom  of  heaven. 
But  those  stars  the  poor  maiden  looks  at  belong  to  no- 
body ;  the  heavens  are  God's  guest-chamber ;  he  lets  in 
all  that  will. 

Our  maiden  knows  a  few  of  the  chief  lights,  —  great, 
hot  Sirius,  the  three  in  Orion's  belt,  the  North-star,  the 
Pointers,  and  some  of  those  others  ''  which  outwatch  the 
Bear,"  and  never  set. 

Well,  poor  tired  girl,  here  is  one  thing  to  be  had  with- 
out money.  God's  costliest  stars  to  you  come  cheap  as 
wishing !  All  night  long  this  beauty  broods  over  the 
sleeping  town,  —  a  hanging  garden,  not  Babylonian,  but 
heavenly,  whereof  the  roses  are  eternal,  and  thornless 
also.  How  large  and  beautiful  they  seem  as  you  stand 
in  dismal  lanes  and  your  eyes  do  not  fail  of  looking  up- 
wards ;  full  of  womanly  reproach  as  you  look  at  them 
from  amid  the  riot  and  uproar  and  debauchery  of  wicked 
men.  Yet  they  cost  nothing  —  everybody's  stars.  The 
dew  of  their  influence  comes  upon  her,  noiseless  and  soft 
and  imperceptible,  and  lulls  her  wearied  limbs. 

"  Oh  sleep!  it  is  a  blessed  thing, 

Beloved  from  pole  to  pole ! 
To  Mother  God  the  praise  be  given ! 
She  sent  the  blessed  sleep  from  heaven 

Which  slid  into  her  soul." 

At  one  touch  of  this  wonder-working  hand  the  maiden's 
brain  triumphs  over  her  mere  muscles,  her  rnind  over 
the  tired  flesh  ;  the  material  sky  is  transfigured  into  the 
spiritual  heaven,  and  the  bud  of  beauty  opens  into  the 
flower  of  love.  Now  she  walks,  dreamy,  in  the  kingdom 
of  God.  What  a  world  of  tropic  luxuriance  springs  up 
around   her  !  —  fairer  than   artists   paint ;   her  young 


400  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

"  imagination  bodies  forth  the  forms  of  things  unseen," 
nor  needs  a  poet's  pen  to  give  those  "  airy  nothings  a 
local  habitation  and  a  name."  No  garden  of  Eden  did 
poet  ever  describe  so  fair,  for  God  "  giveth  to  his  beloved 
even  in  their  sleep,"  — more  than  most  wakeful  artists  can 
reconstruct  when  "  the  meddling  intellect  misshapes  the 
forms  of  things."  What  a  kingdom  of  heaven  she  walks 
in,  —  the  poor  tired  maiden  from  the  shop  now  become  the 
new  Eve  in  this  paradise  of  dreams  !  But  forms  of  earth 
still  tenant  there.  It  is  still  the  daily  life,  but  now  all 
glorified  ;  sleep  and  love  are  the  Moses  and  Elias  who 
work  this  real  and  not  miraculous  transfiguration.  The 
little  close-pent  shop  is  a  cathedral  now,  vaster  than  St. 
Peter's,  richer  too  than  all  Genoese  marbles  in  its  vari- 
colored decoration  ;  the  furniture  and  merchandise  are 
transubstantiated  to  arches,  columns,  statues,  pictures. 
Ribbons  stretch  into  fair  galleries  from  pillar  to  pillar, 
lighter  and  more  graceful  than  Cologne  or  Strasburg  can 
boast  in  their  architectural  romance,  writ  in  poetic  stone, 
and  the  poor  tape  of  the  shop  is  now  a  stairway  climbing 
round  a  column  of  the  transept  and  winding  into  the 
dome  far  out  of  sight,  till  the  mind,  outrunning  that 
other  disciple,  the  eye,  takes  wing  to  follow  its  aerial 
ramp,  which  ends  only  in  the  lights  of  day,  streaming  in 
at  the  top  and  coloring  the  walls,  storied  all  over  with 
the  pictured  glory  of  heavenly  scenes.  The  counter  has 
become  the  choir  and  chancel ;  the  desk  is  the  great 
high  altar.  The  roar  of  the  street  —  where  market- 
wagons,  drays,  omnibuses,  coaches,  carts,  gigs,  mix  in 
one  continuous  uproar  from  morn  till  eve  —  is  now  sub- 
dued into  music,  sweeter  and  sublimer  too  than  the  Pope 
ever  heard  in  his  Sistine  chapel,  nay,  though  he  were 
composed  for  by  Beethoven  and  Mozart,  and  sung  to  and 
aided  by  all  the  great  masters  of  heroic  song,  from  old 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.       401 

Timotheus,  who  "  raised  a  mortal  to  the  skies,"  to  St. 
Cecilia,  who  "  drew  an  angel  down."  What  manly  and 
womanly  voices  sing  forth  the  psalm  of  everlasting  life, 
while  the  spheral  melody  of  heaven  is  the  organ-chant 
which  they  all  follow  !  A  visionary  lover  comes  forth, 
—  his  form  a  manly  fact,  seen  daily  from  the  window 
of  her  shop,  his  love  a  naaidenly  dream  of  many  a  natural 
and  waking  hour.  He  comes  from  the  high  altar  ;  it  is 
the  Desire  of  all  nations,  the  Saviour  himself,  the  second 
Adam,  the  king  of  glory.  He  leads  her  through  this 
church  of  love,  built  of  sleep  and  beauty,  takes  her  within 
the  veil  to  the  holy  of  holies,  where  dwells  the  Eternal ; 
therein,  that  which  is  in  part  is  done  away,  and  the  mor- 
tal maid  and  immortal  lover  are  made  one  forever  and 
ever. 

Sleep  on,  0  maiden !  and  take  thy  rest  till  the  morn- 
ing star  usurp  the  evening's  place ;  nay,  till  the  sexton 
toll  his  bell  for  Sunday  prayers  !  I  will  not  wake  thee 
forth  from  such  a  dream ;  but  thank  the  dear  God  who 
watches  over  those  who  rise  early  and  sit  up  late,  who 
giveth  to  his  beloved  even  in  their  sleep. 

Late  on  the  same  Saturday  night,  Jeremiah  Welltodo, 
senior  partner  of  the  firm  of  Welltodo  &  Co.,  a  wealthy 
grocer,  now  waxing  a  little  old,  shuts  up  his  ledger  and 
puts  it  in  the  great  iron  safe  of  his  counting-room.  He 
is  tired  with  the  week's  work ;  yet  it  is  not  quite  done. 
The  rest  of  the  servants  of  the  shop  have  long  since 
retired  to  their  several  homes.  He  closes  the  street 
door  —  the  shutters  were  let  down  long  ago — and  walks 
towards  home.  The  street  is  mainly  still,  save  the 
rumble  of  a  belated  omnibus  creeping  along,  and  a  tired 
hackman  takes  off  his  last  fare :  for  it  is  late  Saturday 
night  ;  nay,  it  is  almost  Sunday  morning  now,  —  the 
two  twilights  come  near  each  other  at  this  season, — 

26 


402  •       VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

and  the  red  which  the  young  milliner  saw  has  faded  out 
before  the  deep,  dark  blue  of  midnight;  the  clouds  which 
held  up  the  handsome  colors  for  her  to  look  at  have  fallen 
now,  and  are  dropped  on  meadows  newly  mown.  How 
they  will  jewel  the  grass  there  to-morrow  morning ! 

Mr.  Welltodo's  work  is  not  quite  done ;  business  pur- 
sues him  still.  "  Sugars  are  rising,"  quoth  he,  "  and  my 
stock  is  getting  light.  Flour  is  falling ;  the  new  harvest 
is  coming  in  pretty  heavy,  opens  rich.  What  a  great 
flour  country  the  West  is.  Well,  I  '11  think  of  that  to- 
morrow. Dr.  Banbaby  won't  interrupt  me  much,  except 
with  the  hymns.  I  do  like  music.  How  it  touches  the 
heart !  That  will  do  for  devotion.  I  wish  the  Doctor 
did  n't  make  such  theological  prayers,  fit  only  for  the 
assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster,  who  are  dead  and 
gone,  thank  God !  I  wish  some  of  their  works  had  fol- 
lowed them  long  ago.  Well,  in  sermon  time  I  can  think 
of  the  flour  and  the  sugar.  Good  night,  Mr.  Business. 
No  more  talk  with  you  till  to-morrow  at  eleven  o'clock. 

"  What  a  lucky  dog  Jacob  is,  that  partner  of  mine ! 
Smart  fellow,  too !  went  up  to  Charlemont  at  four  o'clock, 
on  the  Fitchburg  railroad  —  bad  stock  that !  —  to  see 
his  mother.  That  won't  be  the  first  one  he  stops  to 
see;  somebody  else  waiting  for  him,  —  not  quite  so  old. 
Mother  not  first  this  time.  Well,  I  suppose  it  is  all 
right ;  I  used  to  do  just  so.  Did  not  forget  poor  dear 
old  mother;  only  thought  of  somebody  else  then;  just 
at  that  time  thought  of  dear  little  Jeannie ;  so  I  did, 
could  n't  help  it.  Mother  said  nothing  about  it ;  she 
knew ;  always  will  be  so ;  always  was ;  one  generation 
goeth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh,  but  love 
remaineth  forever.  Well,  sugar's  rising,  flour  getting 
low  —  think  of  that  to-morrow.  How  my  business 
chases  me ! " 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.      403 

But  the  wind  from  the  country  hills  comes  into  town, 
its  arms  full  of  the  scents  of  many  a  clover-field,  where 
the  haymaker  with  his  scythe  has  just  swept  up  those 
crumbs  which  fall  from  God's  table,  and  stored  them  as 
oxen's  bread  for  next  winter ;  but  the  wind  gleans  after 
him,  and  in  advance  brings  to  town  the  breath  of  the 
new-mown  hay.  It  fans  his  hot  temples,  shaking  his 
hair,  now  getting  gray  a  little  prematurely,  and  to  his 
experienced  memory  it  tells  all  the  story  of  summer,  and 
how  the  farmer  is  getting  on.  "  What  a  strange  thing 
the  wind  is,"  said  he,  —  "  seventy -five  per  cent  nitrogen, 
twenty-four  per  cent  oxygen,  and  one  per  cent  aqueous 
vapor,  flavored  with  carbonic  acid  !  What  a  strange 
horse  to  run  so  swift,  long-backed  it  is  too,  carrying  so 
many  sounds  and  odors !  What  a  handsome  thing  the 
wind  is  —  to  the  mind  I  mean.  Look  there,  how  it 
tosses  the  boughs  of  this  elm  tree,  and  makes  the  gas- 
light flicker  as  it  passes  by  !  See  there  how  gracefully 
these  long,  pendulous  limbs  sway  to  and  fro  in  the  night ! 
How  it  patters  in  the  leaves  of  that  great  elm-tree  up  at 
the  old  place  !  " 

He  lifts  his  hat,  half  to  enjoy  the  coolness,  half  also  in 
reverence  for  the  dear  God  whose  wind  it  is  which  brings 
the  country  in  to  him,  and  he  fares  homeward.  All  the 
children  are  a-bed,  and  as  Jane  Welltodo,  thriftiest  of 
kind  mothers,  has  taken  the  "last  stitch  in  time,"  on 
the  last  garment  of  little  Chubby  Cheeks,  —  whose  blue 
eyes  were  all  covered  up  with  handsome  sleep  when  she 
looked  at  him  two  hours  ago,  ^  the  good  woman  lifts 
her  spectacles,  and  wonders  why  father  does  not  come 
home.  "  Business  !  business  !  it  makes  me  half  a  widow! 
it  will  kill  the  good  man.  His  hair  is  gray  now,  at  fifty- 
five  ;  it  is  not  age,  only  business.  '  Care  to  our  coffin 
adds  a  nail,  no  doubt.'     Killing  himself  with  business ! 


404  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION'. 

but  he 's  a  good  soul,  sends  home  all  the  young  folks ; 
lets  Mr.  Haskell  go  off  courting,  *  to  see  his  mother,'  I 
think  he  calls  it." 

Just  then  the  pass-key  rattled  in  the  door,  the  bolt 
was  shot  into  its  place,  and  Mr.  Welltodo  ran  into 
his  parlor.  "  To-morrow,"  cries  he,  "  let  us  go  out  to 
the  old  place.  You  and  I  will  ride  in  the  chaise,  and 
take  Bobbie.  Edward  can  go  in  the  carryall,  and  take 
Matilda  Jane  and  the  rest  of  the  family.  He  will  like 
to  deliver  his  piece  to  the  trees  before  he  speaks  it  on 
commencement-day.  College  wears  on  Edward ;  stud- 
ies too  hard.  Let  him  run  out  to  grass  a  little  up  at 
Gove's  Corner;  'twill  do  him  good.  I  want  a  little 
smell  of  the  country;  so  you  do.  How  red  your  eyes 
are !     'T  will  do  us  all  good." 

So  they  agree,  and  both  think  of  the  mothers  that 
bore  them,  and  of  their  own  early  days  in  the  little 
country  town,  —  poor  days,  and  yet  how  rich !  They  re- 
member the  little  school-house  and  the  mill,  the  meet- 
ing-house and  the  singing-school  they  went  to  once, 
when  music  was  not  the  most  important  business  they 
attended  to.  Going  separate,  and  coming  home  to- 
gether,—  first  two,  next  one,  and  finally  many,  in  this 
wonderful  human  arithmetic  ! 

The  next  morning  before  the  first  bell  rung,  they  were 
at  the  old  place  where  his  father  lived  once,  and  his 
brother  now ;  her  father  lives  yet  the  other  side  of  the 
hill,  near  the  meeting-house.  They  will  go  there  in  the 
afternoon. 

What  green  beauty  there  is  all  around.  How  hand- 
some is  the  white  clover  which  the  city  horse  greedily 
fills  his  mouth  withal,  as  Mr.  Welltodo  and  brother 
'Zekiel  lead  the  good-natured  creature  to  the  barn !  The 
grocer  follows  the  example,  and  has  a  head  of  clover  in 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.      405 

his  mouth  also,  —  sweeter  than  the  cloves  he  put  there 
yesterday.  How  delicate  the  leaf  is ;  how  nicely  framed 
together !  No  city  jeweller  unites  metals  with  such  nice 
economy  of  material,  or  fits  them  with  such  accuracy  of 
joint.  What  well-finished  tracery  on  the  leaf!  Nay, 
the  honey-bee  who  has  been  feeding  thereon  flies  off  in  a 
graceful  curve,  and  on  wings  of  what  beauty  !  How 
handsome  the  old  elm-tree  is  ;  how  lovely  the  outline  of 
its  great  round  top  !  "  That  tree  would  weigh  forty 
tons,"  says  Mr.  Welltodo,  "  89,600  pounds  ;  yet  it  seems 
to  weigh  nothing  at  all.  There !  that  robin  flies  right 
through  it  as  if  it  were  but  a  green  cloud.  How  attrac- 
tive the  color  ;  such  a  repose  for  the  eye !  Dear  little 
bits  o'  babie  is  never  cradled  so  soft  as  my  eye  reposes 
on  that  mass  of  green.  But  how  pleasantly  the  color  of 
the  ash-gray  bark  contrasts  with  the  grass  beneath,  the 
boughs  above  !  Look  there,  how  handsomely  the  great 
branches  part  off  from  the  trunk,  and  then  divide  into 
smaller  limbs,  then  into  boughs,  into  twigs  and  spray ! 
How  the  pendulous  limbs  hang  down,  and  swing  in  the 
wind,  trailing  clouds  of  greenness  close  to  the  ground ! 
Look  at  the  leaves,  how  well  made  they  are !  There  is 
cabinet  work  for  you !  What  joining !  How  well  the 
colors  match !  See  where  the  fire-hang-bird  has  built  a 
nest  in  one  of  those  pendulous  twigs,  —  just  as  it  used 
to  be  fifty  years  ago !  Dr.  Smith's  squirrels  will  never 
reach  that !  What  a  pretty  piece  of  civil  or  military  en- 
gineering it  was  to  put  such  a  dainty  nest  in  such  a  well- 
fortified  place  !  How  curiously  it  is  made  too  !  Such  a 
nice  covering !  But  here  is  the  father ;  the  mother  is  in 
the  nest,  brooding  the  little  ones,  —  rather  late  though. 
Did  not  marry  early,  I  suppose  ;  could  not  get  ready ! 

'  To  choose  securely  choose  in  May, 
The  leaves  iii  autumu  fall  away.' 


406  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

This  is  good  counsel  to  bird  or  man,  I  suppose.  That  is 
right,  old  fellow  !  go  and  carry  your  wife  her  breakfast, 
—  or  dinner,  I  suppose  it  is.  But  what  a  blaze  of  beauty 
he  is,  newly  kindled  there  in  the  boughs !  —  a  piece  of  a 
rainbow,  or  a  bit  of  the  morning,  which  got  entangled  in 
the  tree  and  torn  off.  How  he  sings  !  —  Grisi  does  not 
touch  that ;  no,  nor  Swedish  Jenny  Lind,  with  all  the 
bobolinks  of  New  England  in  her  Swedish  throat,  as  I 
used  to  think.  Not  up  to  that,  not  she  !  Then,  too,  the 
very  caterpillar  he  has  just  caught  and  now  let  fall  at 
my  feet,  —  what  a  handsome  thing  that  is  !  What  eyes  ; 
what  stripes  of  black  on  his  sides,  and  spots  of  crimson 
on  his  back ;  what  horns  tipped  with  fire  on  his  head ! 
What  a  rich  God  it  must  be  who  can  afford  to  dress  a 
worm  in  such  magnificence,  —  a  Joseph's  coat  for  a  cat- 
erpillar !  But  next  summer  he  will  have  a  yet  fairer 
coat,  as  he  comes  out  of  his  minority  with  his  new  free- 
dom suit  on,  and  will  flutter  by  all  the  flowers,  himself 
an  animate  flower  with  wings.  Butterflies  are  only 
masculine  flowers,  which  have  fallen  in  love,  and  so  fly 
wooing  to  their  quiet  feminine  mates.  Let  him  go !  I 
am  glad  the  Oriole  did  not  dine  on  such  a  meal  as  that. 
What  a  glutton,  to  eat  up  a  Solomon's  song  of  loveli- 
ness !  which  was  not  only  a  canticle  but  a  prophecy  like- 
wise —  of  Messianic  beauty  for  next  year. 

'  "  There  is  a  hornets'  nest,  —  a  young  hornets'  nest.  I 
used  to  be  afraid  of  hornets  ;  now  I  will  let  you  alone, 
Mr.  Stingabee  !  Look  there  !  city  joiners  and  masons 
don't  build  so  well  in  Boston  as  this  country  carpenter, 
who  is  hod-carrier,  architect,  and  mason,  and  puts  up 
his  summer-house  of  papier  mache  under  the  great  limb 
of  the  elm.  There  is  a  piece  of  conscientious  work  ! 
done  by  the  job  too,  —  so  he  works  Sundays,  —  but  done 
faithfully.     What  an  overseer  the  good  God  is  !     But  no, 


BEAUTY  IN  THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.      407 

Mr.  Hornet,  your  little  striped  head  did  n't  plan  that 
house,  —  not  an  artist,  only  a  tool  in  another  hand  !  " 

In  the  mill-pond  close  at  hand  he  sees  the  water-lilies 
are  all  out.  How  handsomely  they  lie  there,  withdraw- 
ing the  green  coverlets  lined  with  white,  and  turned  up 
with  pink,  wherein  they  wrapped  themselves  up  yester- 
day at  noon  !  What  a  power  of  white  and  saffron  color 
within  their  cups  !  How  they  breathe  their  breath  into 
his  face,  as  if  he  and  they  were  little  children  !  and  are 
they  not  of  the  same  Father,  who  cradles  the  lily  and 
the  man  with  equal  love  ?  The  arrowhead  and  the 
pickerel-weed  blossom  there,  and  tall  flags  grow  out  of 
the  soft  ground,  with  cardinals  redder  than  Roman  Lam- 
bruschini.  The  button-ball  is  in  its  glory,  swarmed  about 
with  little  insects,  promoting  the  marriage  of  the  flowers. 
The  swamp  honey-suckle  has  put  on  its  white  raiment 
also,  as  if  to  welcome  the  world,  and  stands  there  a  can- 
didate for  all  honors.  How  handsome  is  this  vegetable 
tribe  who  live  about  the  pond  !  Nay,  under  his  feet  is 
the  little  pale-blue  forget-me-not.  Once  he  used  of  a 
Sunday  to  fold  it  up  in  a  letter  signed  I  know  you  never 
will,  and  send  it  to  the  dear  little  maiden,  now  mother  of 
his  tall  boys  and  comely  girls.  She  liked  the  letter  all 
the  more  because  it  contained  the  handwriting  of  her 
lover  and  her  God,  —  a  two  in  one  without  mystery.  She 
has  the  letter  now,  laid  away  somewhere,  and  her  grand- 
daughter years  hence  will  come  upon  it  and  understand 
nothing.  Like  Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  nobody  can  read  it 
now.  No  ;  there  must  be  a  resurrection  of  the  spirit 
to  read  what  the  spirit  wrote,  —  in  Bible  leaves,  in  flower 
leaves.  There  is  the  cymbidium  he  used  to  send  on  the 
same  errand,  saying,  "  God  meant  it  for  my  Arethusa." 

Hard  by  is  the  kitchen  garden ;  the  pumpkin-vine,  dis- 
daining narrow  limits,  has  climbed  over  the  wall,  and 


408  FIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

puts  forth  its  great  yellow  flowers.  In  one  of  them  is  a 
huge  bee  tumbling  about ;  he  does  not  know  it  is  Sun- 
day, does  not  hear  the  bell  now  tolling  its  last  jow  for 
meeting ;  does  not  care  what  the  selectmen  are  talking 
of  outside  the  meeting-house,  while  within  the  old  ladies 
are  fanning  themselves,  or  eating  green  caraway-seeds,  or 
opening  their  smelling-bottles,  in  the  great  square  pews, 
where  on  high  seats  are  perched  the  little  uncomfortable 
children,  whose  legs  do  not  touch  the  floor ;  he  cares 
nothing  for  all  that,  nor  whether  the  minister  finds  a 
whole  new  Bible,  or  an  old  half  Bible ;  he  is  buzzing  and 
humming  and  fussing  about  in  the  blossom,  powdered 
all  over  with  the  flower-dust ;  now  he  flies  off  to  another, 
marrying  the  dioecious  blossoms, — the  thoughtless  priest 
of  nature  that  he  is,  who  docs  manifold  work  while 
seeking  honey  for  his  subterranean  hive.  Our  grocer 
knows  him  well.  "  What  a  well-built  creature  that  is," 
quoth  he ;  "  how  well-burnished  is  his.  coat  of  mail ;  how 
nicely  it  fits ;  how  delicate  are  those  strong  wings  of  his  ! 
Sebastopol  is  not  so  well  armed  for  offence  and  defence. 
What  an  apparatus  for  suction !  The  steam  fire-engine 
rusting  out  in  the  city  stables  is  not  so  well  contrived  for 
that,  though  it  did  cost  the  city  ten  thousand  dollars 
and  that  famous  visit  to  Cincinnati.  But  why  all  this 
wealth  of  beauty?  Is  not  use  enough,  or  is  God  so 
rich  that  he  can  dress  up  an  humble-bee  in  such  fine 
clothes  ?  so  benevolent  that  he  will  not  be  content  with 
doing  less  ? " 

On  the  other  side,  the  pasture  comes  close  down  to 
the  pond ;  some  of  the  cows  stand  there  in  the  water, 
protecting  their  limbs  from  the  flies ;  others  lie  rumi- 
nant in  the  shadow  of  an  oak-tree.  Wild  roses  come 
close  down  to  the  lilies,  and  these  distant  relatives,  but 
near  neighbors  and  good  friends,  meet  in  the  water,  — 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.      409 

the  one  looking  down  and  reflected,  where  the  other  Hes 
low  and  looks  up.  Spiraeas  and  sweetbriers  are  about 
the  wall,  where  also  the  raspberries  are  now  getting  ripe ; 
andromedas  shake  their  little  white  bells,  all  musical 
with  loveliness ;  the  elder-bush  is  also  in  blossom,  its 
white  flowers  grateful  to  the  eye,  as  to  the  manifold 
insects  living  and  loving  in  its  hospitable  breast.  How 
clean  is  the  trunk  of  the  basswood ;  how  large  and  hand- 
some its  leaves;  how  full  it  is  of  flowers ! — to  which  the 

bees, 

"with  musical  delight, 
For  their  sweet  gold  repair. " 

A  little  further  off,  the  chestnut  trees,  also  in  their 
late  bloom,  dot  the  woods  with  unexpected  beauty, — 
looking  afar  off  like  white  roses  sprinkled  in  the  grass. 
How  well  their  great  round  tops  contrast  with  the  tall 
pines  further  up  on  the  hill !  The  grouping  of  plants  is 
admirable  as  the  several  beauty  of  each.  Nature  never 
combines  the  inappropriate,  nor  makes  a  vulgar  match. 
There  are  no  misalliances  in  that  wedlock.  How  lovely 
is  the  shadow  of  the  oak,  as  it  lies  there,  half  on  land, 
half  in  the  water!  The  swallow  stoops  on  the  wing, 
dips  her  bill,  and  then  flies  off  to  her  populous  nest  in 
the  rafters  of  the  barn ;  how  curiously  she  clings  there, 
braced  by  her  stiff  tail,  and  wakes  up  the  little  ones  to 
fill  their  mouths  !  and  then  comes  such  twittering  as 
reminds  the  city  horse  of  his  own  colthood  in  the  far-off 
pastures  of  Vermont. 

"  Ah  me,"  says  the  grocer,  "  what  a  world  of  use  here 
is!  see  the  ground,  how  rich  the  clover  is!  time  it  was 
cut  too,  —  running  into  the  ground  every  day.  How  the 
corn  comes  out !  earth  full  of  moisture,  air  full  of  heat, 
country  never  looked  finer !  How  the  Indian  corn,  that 
Mississippi  of  grain,  rolls  out  that  long  stream  of  green 


410  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

leaves ;  it  will  tassel  this  very  week  !  What  a  fine  water- 
power  the  pond  is !  —  only  ten  foot  fall,  and  yet  it  is 
stronger  than  all  the  king's  oxen;  turns  'Zekiel's  mill  just 
as  it  used  to  father's,  sawing  in  winter  and  spring,  and 
grinding  all  the  year  through ;  now  it  does  more  yet,  for 
he  has  put  the  water  to  'prentice,  and  taught  it  many  a 
trade.  How  big  the  trees  are  !  that  great  pasture  white- 
oak,  twenty  feet  in  circumference,  —  Captain  McKay 
would  give  two  hundred  dollars  for  it,  take  it  where  it 
stands,  here ;  it  has  only  one  leg  to  stand  on,  but  so 
many  knees  !  That  hill-side  where  the  cows  are,  what 
admirable  pasture  it  is,  early  and  late!  see  the  white 
clover  —  a  little  lime  brought  that  out !  what  a  growth 
of  timber  further  up  !  What  a  useful  world  it  is  !  what 
a  deal  of  engineering  it  took  to  put  it  together !  only  to 
run  such  a  world  after  it  was  set  up  must  take  an  infi- 
nite Providence.  It  is  a  continual  creation,  as  I  told  Dr. 
Banbaby ;  but  he  could  not  understand  it,  for  '  it  was 
not  in  the  Bible,'  no  part  of  revelation  ;  '  continued  crea- 
tion is  a  contradiction  in  the  adjective;'  —  well,  well,  it 
is  an  agreement  in  the  substantive,  a  fact  of  nature  if 
not  a  word  of  theology.  What  a  useful  world !  But 
what  a  power  of  beauty  there  is  too !  How  handsome 
the  clover  is! — Miss  Moolly  Cow,  you  don't  care  any- 
thing about  that ;  it  is  grass  to  you,  to  the  bee  it  is  honey ; 
it  is  loveliness  also  to  my  eyes.  The  Indian  corn  —  a 
Mississippi  of  use  is  it  ?  Why  it  is  the  loveliest  Amazon 
that  ever  ran  in  all  this  green  world  of  grains !  That 
mill-pond  grinds  use  for  brother  'Zekiel  all  day  long, 
makes  him  a  rich  man.  But  what  beauty  runs  over  the 
dam,  year  out,  year  in,  and  comes  dripping  down  from 
those  mosses,  on  the  stones :  how  much  more  of  it  lies 
there  in  the  pond  to  feed  the  lilies,  handsome  babies  on 
that  handsome  breast,  —  and  serve  as  looking-glasses  for 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.       411 

the  clouds  all  day,  the  stars  all  night !  This  makes  all 
the  neighbors  rich,  if  they  will  only  hold  up  their  dish 
when  it  rains  wealth  of  handsomeness.  Beauty  is  all 
grist,  —  no  toll  taken  out  for  grinding  that.  Mill-pond 
is  useful  and  beautiful  at  the  same  time,  a  servant  and 
a  sister.  How  that  little  cat's  paw  of  wind  rumples  its 
dress,  and  those 

'  Little  breezes  dusk  and  shiver,' 

just  as  Matilda  Jane  read  it  to  me  in  Tennyson  last  Sun- 
day afternoon,  when  her  mother  was  hearing  Banbaby 
preach  on  the  '  Fall  of  man.'  What  an  eye  that  Tennyson 
has !  —  he  sees  the  fact ;  daguerreotypes  it  into  words. 
If  I  were  a  poet,  I  would  sit  right  down  before  nature 
and  paint  her  just  as  she  is ;  that  is  the  way  Tennyson 
does.  So  did  Shakespeare,  —  did  not  put  nature's  hair 
into  papers ;  liked  the  original  curl ;  so  do  I ;  so  does 
God.  There,  it  is  all  gone  now,  just  as  still  as  before  ! 
I  used  to  fish  here,  —  but  I  only  caught  the  outline  of 
the  hills,  and  the  shadows  of  the  trees.  How  those 
great  round  clouds  come  and  look  down  there,  and  see 
their  own  face  !  What !  don't  you  like  it,  that  you  must 
change  it  so  fast?  Well,  you  keep  your  beauty,  if  you 
do  change  your  shape.  What  sunny  colors !  It  is  Sunday 
all  the  time  to  the  clouds  and  the  pond.  How  all  the 
hills  are  reflected  in  it!  and  see  the  linden  tree,  and  the 
great  oak,  and  the  white-faced  cow,  the  house,  the  wall 
and  the  sweetbriers  on  it,  and  underneath  all  are  the 
clouds  !  so  the  last  is  made  first,  and  the  first  last.  Mr. 
Church,  who  painted  that  Andes  picture  at  the  Athenasum, 
could  not  come  up  to  this,  —  not  he ;  no,  not  if  he  had 
Titian  to  help  him !  Look  at  the  reflection  of  that  great 
oak-tree !  Worth  two  hundred  dollars  for  use,  is  it  ? 
Captain  McKay  sha'n't  have  it ;  no,  not  for  a  thousand 


412  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

dollars !  No,  no,  dear  old  tree !  Grandfather  who  was 
shot  at  Lexington  used  to  tell  grandmother,  and  she  told 
everybody  of  it,  that  it  was  a  large,  full-grown  tree  when 
his  great-great-grandfather  built  the  first  log-house  in 
town.  Underneath  that  he  first  took  his  pack  off  his 
shoulders,  and  his  hat  from  his  head,  and  stood  up 
straight,  and  offered  his  prayer  of  thanksgiving  to  God. 
'  Ebenezer,'  said  he, '  hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us,' 
and  he  called  his  first  son  by  that  name,  —  Ebenezer 
Welltodo.  Here  the  old  pilgrim  buried  Rachel,  his  first 
daughter,  a  tall  girl,  they  say,  but  delicate.  She  died 
when  she  was  only  fifteen,  —  died  the  first  year  of  their 
settlement,  came  over  from  England.  But  the  garden 
rose  could  not  stand  the  rough  winters  of  those  times, 
faded,  and  died.  The  old  pilgrim  —  he  was  only  thirty- 
six  or  eight  then,  though  —  buried  that  rosebud  under 
the  great  oak.  When  he  was  digging  the  grave,  a  wood- 
pecker came  and  walked  round  on  the  trunk  of  the  tree, 
and  tapped  it  with  his  bill,  and  then  stood  close  to  his 
head  and  looked  at  him  with  great  red  eyes.  He  never 
had  seen  such  a  woodpecker  before,  nor  any  wild  creature 
so  tame,  and  called  it  a  bird  of  paradise  sent  to  tell  him 
that  his  daughter  was  safe  in  the  Promised  Land.  So 
he  finished  her  grave,  and  lined  it  with  green  twigs 
which  the  oak-pruner  had  cut  off  from  the  tree,  and 
covered  her  young  body  with  the  same  —  they  had  no 
other  coffin  —  and  filled  it  up  with  earth,  and  planted  a 
wild-rose  bush  there  for  headstone.  So  this  Rachel,  like 
the  other,  was  buried  under  a  tree,  and  this  Jacob  also 
had  his  Oak  of  Weeping.  I  don't  know  how  it  is,  but 
there  has  been  a  woodpecker  in  some  of  the  great  dead 
limbs  ever  since.  Dear  old  oak !  if  there  be  '  tongues  in 
trees,'  what  stories  you  could  tell !  You  are  as  fair  to 
the  memory  as  to  the  eye.     You  shall  never  go  to  the 


BEAUTY  7iV  THE   WORLD   OF  MATTER.      413 

mill ;  too  beautiful  for  use,  you  build  what  is  worth 
more  than  ships,  for  there  is  a  heart  in  you ! 

"  Look  there,  where  the  old  barn  stood  !  how  the  ivy 
and  wild  grape-vine  have  come  and  covered  up  the  rock, 
casting  a  handsome  veil  over  what  man  left  bare  and 
ugly.  So  it  is  on  all  the  roadsides  betwixt  here  and 
town.  One  day  the  railroad  embankments  will  be  also 
green  and  lovely.  First  come  weeds,  —  a  sort  of  rough 
great-coat,  then  grass,  then  flowers  also.  So  is  it  with 
all  our  destructiveness.  Nature  walks  backward,  and 
from  her  own  shoulders  casts  the  garment  of  material 
beauty  on  the  human  shame  of  Waterloo  and  Balaklava, 
and  all  the  battlefields  of  earth.  See  how  the  rock  is 
covered  with  vegetation:  houseleek  here,  celandine  there, 
and  saxifrage  —  how  early  it  comes  out,  close  to  the 
snow ;  while  mosses  and  lichens  grow  everywhere ! 
Beauty  pastures  even  on  the  rocks,  —  God  feeding  it  out 
of  the  clouds ;  he  holds  forth  a  cup,  and  every  little 
moss  comes  and  drinks  out  of  it  and  is  filled  with  life. 

"  What  does  it  all  mean  ?  Is  God  so  liberal,  that,  after 
drawing  use  for  the  customers  at  his  universe  of  a  shop, 
he  lets  the  tap  run  awhile  merely  for  the  beauty  of  the 
stream  ?  Use  costs  us  hard  work,  but  the  beauty  of 
nature  costs  nothing.  He  throws  it  in  as  I  do  the  twine 
and  paper  with  a  pound  of  cheese.  No ;  for  that  I  get 
pay  for  in  another  way.  He  gives  it,  just  as  I  gave  little 
Rosanna  Murphy,  the  Irish  girl  with  the  drunken  father, 
who  went  to  the  house  of  correction  for  beating  his 
family  —  thank  God,  I  don't  sell  rum  !  —  just  as  I  gave 
Rosie  an  orange  last  Friday  when  she  came  to  buy  the 
salt  fish.  That  is  it,  he  gives  it  in.  '  Don't  charge  any- 
thing for  that,'  as  I  told  poor  little  Rosie,  who  had  been 
crying  for  her  good-for-nothing  father,  —  we  don't  ask 
anything  for  that.     I  give  it  to  you  that  you  may  be  a 


414  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

good  girl  and  happy,  and  know  there  is  somebody  richer 
than  you  who  takes  an  interest  in  you ;  to  let  you  know 
somebody  loves  you.'  How  she  dried  her  tears  and  did 
thank  me ! 

"  Well,  it  must  be  a  good  God  who  makes  such  a  world 
as  this,  and  wlien  we  only  pay  for  the  dry  salt  fish  of 
use — often  with  tears  in  our  eyes  — pats  us  on  the  head, 
flings  in  this  orange  of  beauty  and  makes  no  charge, '  so 
that  you  may  be  a  good  girl  and  happy,  and  know  that 
somebody  takes  an  interest  in  you,  —  that  you  have  a 
friend  in  the  world  ! ' 

" '  Comes  of  notliing,'  does  it  ?  'No  plan  in  the  world, 
no  thought,'  is  there  ?  '  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart, 
there  is  no  God,'  —  that  is,  because  he  is  a  fool.  He 
must  be  a  fool  to  think  so,  a  natural  born  fool,  a  fool  in 
four  letters.  "Well,  I  pity  him ;  so  does  God.  Poor 
fool,  he  could  not  help  thinking  so.  I  do  not  believe 
in  Dr.  Banbaby's  God,  —  a  great,  ugly  devil,  sending 
Elias  and  two  bears  —  miraculous  she-bears  —  to  kill, 
and  '  carry  off  to  hell,'  forty-two  babies  who  laughed  at 
his  bald  head.  I  don't  believe  in  such  a  devilish  God  as 
that !  it  is  worse  than  the  fool's  no-God.  But  there  is 
wisdom  and  power  somewhere !  Think  of  all  this,  — 
sermon  on  the  mount,  sermon  on  the  hill,  sermon  in 
the  pond,  in  the  oak-tree  —  a  dear  good  sermon  that  is, 
—  sermon  in  the  wild-rose  and  the  lily !  Yes,  that 
swallow  twitters  away  a  whole  One  Hundred  and  Nine- 
teenth Psalm  Qf  praise  to  God.  How  all  nature  breaks 
forth  into  voice  as  soon  as  you  listen !  I  don't  blame 
her ;  I  would  if  I  could.  Sing  away  there,  fire-hang- 
bird  !  buzz  away  there,  humble-bee  in  the  pumpkin  blos- 
som !  there  is  an  infinite  goodness  somewhere  !  You 
don't  know  it,  but  you  grow  out  of  it,  all  of  you  !  The 
world  itself  is  but  one  little  moss,  drinking  from  the  cup 


BEAUTY  IN  THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.       415 

God  holds  in  his  hand.  Ah  me  !  if  the  Rev.  Banbaby 
would  come  out  here  and  read  God's  fresh  handwriting, 
and  not  blear  his  eyes  so  continually  over  the  black 
print  of  John  Calvin  and  the  Synod  of  Dort ;  if  he 
would  study  St.  Nature  only  half  as  much  as  St.  Reve- 
lation, he  would  never  have  preached  that  sermon  on 
the  '  Damnation  of  the  Unbaptized,'  and  declared  that 
all  such  were  lost,  and  especially  infants,  on  whom  God 
visits  the  sins  of  their  parents  for  ever  and  ever,  —  which 
he  did  let  fly  on  the  Sunday  after  poor  widow  Faithful 
lost  her  only  child,  a  dear  little  boy  of  fifteen  months. 
No  wonder  she  went  crazy  the  next  week,  and  I  took  her 
to  Worcester. 

"  This  must  be  the  meaning  of  it  all,  —  it  is  a  Reve- 
lation OP  God's  Love.  That  is  what  it  is.  Consider 
the  lilies  of  the  pond,  —  they  all  teach  this  :  If  God  so 
clothe  the  lilies  in  brother  'Zekiel's  mill-pond,  watch  over 
them,  ripen  their  seed  thus  curiously  under  water,  sow 
it  there,  and  keep  the  race  as  lasting  as  the  stars,  will 
he  not  much  rather  bless  every  soul  of  saint  or  sinner, 
0  Rev.  Banbaby  ?  Oh,  foolish  congregations  of  self-deny- 
ing men,  who  think  you  must  believe  in  all  the  clerical 
nonsense  and  bad-sense  which  ministers  preach  at  you ! 
where  are  your  eyes,  where  are  your  hearts,  where  are 
your  souls  that  you  make  such  a  fuss  about  ? 

'  Why  tliis  longing-,  this  for  ever  sighing 

For  such  doctrines  ghastly,  hateful,  grim,  — 
While  the  beautiful,  all  round  thee  lying, 

Offers  up  its  low,  perpetual  hymn? 
Would  'st  thou  listen  to  its  gentle  teaching, 

All  that  restless  longing  it  would  still, — 
Flower  and  pond  and  laden  bee  are  teaching, 

Thy  own  sphere  with  natural  work  to  fill.'  " 

Mr.  Welltodo  is  right ;  that  is  the  meaning  of  it  all. 
Love  sums  it  up:  "  All  things  are  double"  —  use  this, 


416  VIEWS  OF  RELIGION. 

beauty  that :  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  are 
thus  bound  up  in  the  same  volume  of  nature.  What  a 
revelation  of  God's  goodness  this  world  of  beauty  is ! 
How  it  comes  to  the  tired  young  milliner,  soothes  her 
weariness,  quickens  her  imagination,  and  then  laps  her 
in  the  arms  of  sleep,  till  all  is  joyous,  blessed  rest !  No, 
in  that  rest  she  longs  for  another  tranquillity,  —  the 
soul's  rest  in  the  infinite  perfections  of  God. 

How  this  mundane  beauty  comes  to  the  calculating 
man,  lifts  him  above  his  "  sugars  "  and  his  "  flours  "  he 
meant  to  spend  all  Sunday  in  thinking  over ;  and  shows 
him  the  heavenly  meaning  in  this  life  of  ours ! 

What  a  revelation  it  is  of  the  Cause  and  Providence 
of  all  this  world !  God  gives  us  use  !  "  giveth  liberally." 
You  niight  expect  it.  But  that  is  not  enough  for  him. 
He  adds  another  world,  which  feeds  and  cheers  the  su- 
perior faculties.  There  is  use  for  need  and  virtue, 
beauty  also  as  overplus  and  for  delight.  We  ask  corn 
for  bread  ;  God  makes  it  handsome  and  it  feeds  the 
mind.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  he  could  not  give  enough  to 
satisfy  his  own  benevolence.  How  he  spreads  a  table 
with  all  that  is  needful  for  material  wants,  and  then 
gives  this  beauty  as  a  musical  benediction  to  the  feast, — 
a  grace  before  and  after  meat!  To  a  thoughtful  man, 
how  the  sight  of  this  wakens  emotions  of  reverence, 
love,  and  trust !  Who  can  doubt  the  causal  Goodness 
which  makes  the  fairness  ? 

Men  tell  about  "  miracles,"  which  prove  "  the  great- 
ness of  the  Lord,"  and  "his  goodness  too;"  that  he 
was  once  angry  with  mankind,  and  sent  a  flood,  which 
killed  all  the  living  things  on  earth,  from  the  lowest 
plant  up  to  the  highest  man,  save  only  eight  men  and 
women  and  a  troop  of  inferior  animals  whom  he  kept  in 
a  great  box,  which  floated  for  a  whole  year  on  this  ocean 


BEAUTY  IN   THE    WORLD   OF  MATTER.       417 

of  murder,  and  then  let  out  the  ancestors  of  all  things 
that  now  live  upon  the  earth  ;  that  he  miraculouslj  con- 
founded the  speech  of  men  building  a  city,  and  they  fled 
asunder,  leaving  their  abortive  work ;  that  he  miracu- 
lously plagued  Egypt  with  grotesque  and  awful  torments, 
and  by  miracle  led  Israel  through  a  sea  of  waters  closing 
on  their  foes,  and  into  a  sea  of  sand,  which  eat  up  one 
generation  of  the  Israelites  themselves,  —  nay,  that  by 
tlie  ministration  of  one  Hebrew  man,  continued  miracles 
v\*ere  wrought  for  forty  years ;  and  then,  yet  more  won- 
derful, by  another,  at  whose  word  water  was  changed 
to  wine,  the  bread  of  five  sufficed  five  thousand  men,  the 
wanting  limb  came  strong  again,  the  dead  returned  to 
life,  —  nay,  at  his  death,  that  the  very  sun  stood  still, 
and  darkness  filled  the  heavens  at  high  noonday,  while 
the  rocks  were  rent,  the  graves  stood  wide,  and  buried 
saints  came  back  to  light  and  life.     Believe  it  not !     To 
me  such  tales  are  ghastly  as  Egyptian  idols  and  Hin- 
doo images  of  God,  mixing  incongruous  limbs  of  beast 
and  bird  and  man.     In  this  little  leaf  there  is  more 
divinity  than  in  all  those  monstrous  legends,  writ  in 
letters  or  carved  out  in  stone.     But  the  daily  wonder  of 
nature,  which  is  no  miracle,  —  that  is  the  actual  reve- 
lation of  God's  power  and  goodness,  a  diamond  of  love 
set  in  the  gold  of  beauty. 

Look  all  about  you !  What  a  ring  of  handsomeness 
surrounds  the  town  !  What  a  heaven  of  loveliness  is 
arched  over  us  !  See  how  earth,  air,  and  water  are 
turnmg  into  bread !  Out  of  the  ground  what  daily  use 
and  beauty  grow !  Think  of  the  thousand  million  men 
on  earth,  the  million  millions  of  beast,  bird,  fish,  insect ! 
They  all  hang  on  the  breasts  of  Heaven,  and  arc  fed 
by  the  motherly  bounty  of  infinite  perfection.  This  is 
a  clover  blossom  at  one  end  of  the  stalk,  at  the  other 

27 


418  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

end  is  God.  Yes,  all  rests  in  him,  flowers  out  of  him, 
lives  by  him,  leads  us  to  him.  All  this  material  beauty 
of  nature  is  but  one  rose  on  the  bosom  of  Deity,  over- 
looked by  the  Infinite  Loveliness  which  is  alike  its 
Cause  and  Providence.  Yea,  the  universe  of  matter  is  a 
revelation  of  him,  —  of  his  power  in  its  strength,  of  his 
wisdom  in  its  plan  and  law,  of  his  love  and  his  loveli- 
ness in  that  perfume  of  the  world  which  we  call  beauty. 
Earth  beneath  and  heaven  above  are  greater  and  les- 
ser prophets,  gospel,  and  epistle ;  and  all  unite  in  one 
grand  psalm,  — "  Glory   to  God  in   the   highest,  on 

EARTH  PEACE,  AND  GOOD  WILL  TO  MEN." 


SPRING.  419 


SPRING. 

How  mighty  are  the  forces  in  the  world  of  matter,  — 
attraction,  affinity,  light,  heat,  electricity,  vegetation,  the 
growth  of  plants,  animation,  the  life  of  heast,  bird,  rep- 
tile, insect !  Yet  how  delicate  are  the  results  thereof  ! 
It  seems  strange  that  a  butterfly's  wing  should  be  woven 
up  so  thin  and  gauzy  in  this  monstrous  loom  of  nature, 
and  be  so  delicately  tipped  with  fire  from  such  a  gross 
hand,  and  rainbowed  all  over  in  such  a  storm  of  thunder- 
ous elements.  But  so  it  is.  Put  a  little  atom  of  your  butter- 
fly's wing  under  a  microscope,  and  what  delicate  wonders 
do  you  find  !  The  marvel  is  that  such  great  forces  do 
such  nice  work.  A  thoughtful  man  for  the  first  time 
goes  to  some  carpet  factory  in  Lowell.  He  looks  out  of 
the  window,  and  sees  dirty  bales  of  wool  lying  confusedly 
about,  as  they  were  dropped  from  the  carts  that  brought 
them  there.  Close  at  hand  is  the  Merrimac  River,  one 
end  of  it  pressed  against  the  New  Hampshire  mountains 
and  the  sky  far  off,  while  the  other  crowds  upon  the  mill- 
dam  and  is  pouring  through  its  narrow  gate.  Under  the 
factory  it  drives  the  huge  wheel,  whose  turning  keeps 
the  whole  town  ajar  all  day.  Above  is  the  great  bell 
which  rings  the  river  to  its  work.  Before  him  are  puUies 
and  shafts  ;  the  floor  is  thick-set  with  looms  ;  there  are 
rolls  of  various-colored  woollen  yarn,  bits  of  card  pierced 
with  holes  hang  before  the  weaver,  who  now  pulls  a 
handle,  and  the  slmttles  fly,  wedding  the  woof  to  the 
expectant  warp,  and  the  handsome  fabric  is  slowly  woven 


420  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

up  and  rolled  away.  The  thoughtful  man  wonders  at 
the  contrivance  by  which  the  Merrimac  River  is  made  to 
weave  such  coarse  materials  into  §uch  beauty  of  form, 
color,  and  finish.  What  a  marvel  of  machinery  it  is ! 
None  of  the  weavers  quite  understand  it ;  our  visitor  still 
less.  He  goes  off  wondering,  thinking  what  a  head  it 
must  be  which  planned  the  mill,  —  a  tool  by  which  the 
Merrimac  transfigures  wool  and  dyestuff  into  handsome 
carpets,  serviceable  for  chamber,  parlor,  staircase,  or 
meeting-house. 

But  all  day,  you,  and  I,  President  Buchanan,  the  Amer- 
ican Tract  Society,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  all  the  people  in  the  world,  are  in  a  carpet  factory 
far  more  wonderful.  What  vast  forces  therein  spin  and 
weave  continually !  What  is  the  Merrimac,  which  only 
reaches  from  the  New  Hampshire  mountains  to  the  sea, 
compared  to  that  great  river  of  God  on  whose  breast  the 
earth,  the  sun,  the  solar  system,  yea,  the  astral  system, 
are  but  bubbles,  which  gleam,  many-colored,  for  a  mo- 
ment, or  but  dimple  that  stream,  and  whicli  swiftly  it 
whirls  away  ?  What  is  the  fabric  of  a  Lowell  mill  to 
that  carpet  which  God  lays  on  the  floor  of  the  earth, 
from  the  Arctic  Circle  to  the  Antarctic,  or  yet  also 
spreads  on  the  bottom  of  the  monstrous  sea  ?  It  is  trod 
under  foot  by  all  mankind  ;  the  elephant  walks  on  it, 
and  the  royal  tiger.  What  multitudes  of  sheep,  swine, 
and  horned  cattle  lie  down  there,  and  take  their  rest ; 
what  tribes  of  beasts,  insects,  reptiles,  birds,  fishes,  make 
a  home  therein,  or  feed  thereon.  Moths  do  not  eat  away 
this  floor-cloth  of  the  land  and  sea.  The  snow  lies  on 
it,  the  sun  lurks  there  in  summer,  the  rain  wets  it  all  the 
year ;  yet  it  never  wears  out ;  it  is  dyed  in  fast  colors. 
Now  and  then  the  feet  of  armies  in  their  battle  wear  a 
little  hole  in  this  green  carpet,  but  next  year  a  handsome 


SPRING.  421 

piece  of  botanic  rug-work  covers  up  tlie  wear  and  tear  of 
Sebastopol  and  Delhi,  as  of  old  it  repaired  the  waste  of 
Marathon  and  Trasimenus.  Look,  and  you  see  no  weaver, 
no  loom  visible  ;  but  the  web  is  always  there,  on  the 
ground  and  underneath  the  sea.  The  same  clothier  like- 
wise keeps  the  live  world  tidy  and  in  good  trim.  How 
all  the  fishes  are  dressed  out,  —  those  glittering  in  plate 
armor,  these  only  arrayed  in  their  vari-eolored  jerkins, 
such  as  no  Moorish  artist  could  paint.  How  well  clad 
are  the  insects ;  with  what  suits  of  mail  are  the  beetle 
and  bee  and  ant  furnished.  The  coat  of  the  buffalo  never 
pinches  under  the  arm,  never  puckers  at  the  shoulder ;  it 
is  always  the  same,  yet  never  old-fashioned,  nor  out  of 
date.  The  shoes  of  the  reindeer  and  the  ox  inherit  that 
mythical  Hebrew  blessing  pronounced  on  those  of  the 
Israelites  ;  tliey  wax  not  old  upon  their  feet.  The  pigeon 
and  humming-bird  wear  their  court-dress  every  day,  and 
yet  it  never  looks  rusty  nor  threadbare.  In  this  grand 
clothiery  of  the  world  everything  is  clad  in  more  beauty 
than  many-colored  Joseph  or  imperial  Solomon  ever  put 
on,  yet  nobody  ever  sees  the  wheel,  the  loom,  or  the  sew- 
ing-machine of  this  great  Dorcas  Institution  which  car- 
pets the  earth  and  upholsters  the  heavens,  and  clothes 
the  creatures  of  the  world  with  more  imperial  glory  than 
the  Queen  of  Sheba  ever  fancied  in  her  dream  of  dress 
and  love.  How  old  is  the  world  of  matter,  —  many  a 
million  years ;  yet  it  is  to-day  still  fresh  and  young  as 
when  the  morning  stars  first  saug  together,  and  all  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.  Not  a  power  of  the  earth 
has  decayed.     The  sea, 

"  Such  as  creation's  dawn  beheld,  it  roUeth  now." 

The  stars  have  been  watching  many  a  million  years;  yet 
in  all  that  heavenly  host  not  a  single  eye  has  turned 


422  VIEWS  OF  religion: 

dim.  The  sun  has  lost  nothing  of  his  fire.  Never  old, 
the  moon  still  walks  in  maiden  beauty  through  the  sky, 
and  though  men  and  nations  vanish,  "  the  most  ancient 
heavens  are  fresh  and  strong."  Centripetal  and  Centri- 
fugal are  the  two  horses  of  God  that  make  up  the  won- 
drous span  that  draws  the  heavenly  chariot ;  they  are 
always  on  the  road,  yet  never  cast  a  shoe  ;  and  though 
they  have  journeyed  for  many  a  million  years,  are  to-day 
fresh  and  fleet  and  road-ready  as  when  first  they  drew 
Neptune,  the  earliest  horn  of  this  family  of  planets,  in  his 
wide  orbit  round  the  central  sun.  How  old  the  world  is ; 
yet  well-clad,  and  its  garments  as  fresh  as  if  they  were 
new,  spick  and  span,  in  every  thread. 

What  a  revival  of  nature  is  just  now  going  on  in  all 
Europe,  Asia,  North  America,  and  the  islands  which  dot 
the  frozen  sea  with  green.  To  the  arctic  world,  which 
for  months  sat  in  darkness,  exceeding  great  light  has 
come.  Truly  here  is  the  out-pouring  of  the  spirit  of 
God  !  Yet  nobody  preached  the  reasonableness  of  eter- 
nal damnation  to  the  alewives,  the  shad,  and  the  salmon, 
which  now  abound  in  our  waters  ;  but  with  no  minister 
to  scare  them  they  know  what  they  shall  do  to  be  saved, 
for  the  spirit  of  God  comes  into  these  mute  disciples, 
who  crowd  up  the  little  streams,  float  into  the  ponds, 
and  spread  in  the  great  streams,  and  there  drop,  as  an 
offering,  into  the  temple-chest  of  the  Almighty  all  that 
they  have,  even  their  living,  and  then,  like  the  poor 
widow  in  the  New  Testament  story,  pass  out  of  human 
sight,  swallowed  up  in  that  great  sea  of  oblivion  wliere 
man  beholds  nothing,  but  where  God  never  loses  sight 
of  an  alewife,  having  provided  for  its  existence  and  the 
accidents  of  its  history  from  before  the  foundations  of 
the  world.  From  his  eye  neither  the  great  sun  in 
heaven  nor  the  spawn  of  ,an  alewife  in  the  sea  is  ever  for 


SPRING.  423 

a  moment  lost  or  hid.  What  new  life  is  there  in  the 
air,  which  hums  with  little  insects  new-born,  short-lived, 
yet  not  one  of  them  afraid  to  die.  Why  should  it  be  ? 
The  infinite  Mind,  which  is  cause  and  providence  to  all 
things  that  be,  knows  the  little  track  of  an  ephemeron  as 
well  as  the  calculated  orbit  of  this  world,  which  teams 
its  thousand  million  men  from  age  to  age  along  its  well- 
proportioned  path.  "  Fear  not,  little  flock  of  ephemera," 
God  says  to  them,  "  lo,  I  am  with  you  also  to  the  end  of 
the  world.  Not  a  fly  shall  fall  to  the  ground  without 
my  providence."  In  some  warm  spring  day,  in  the  shal- 
low waters  of  a  sluggish  river  there  sports  a  shoal  of  lit- 
tle fishes,  new-born,  trying  their  tiny  fins  in  waters 
which  are  at  once  their  bed  and  board.  Suddenly  a 
swarm  of  little  insects,  just  waked  into  new  life  by  the 
sun,  springs  from  the  bank  and  darkens  the  surface  of 
the  water,  for  a  yard  or  two,  with  a  cloud.  The  fishes 
which  play  there  spring  into  the  air,  and  in  a  few  min- 
utes all  this  cloud  of  flies  has  been  swallowed  down. 
But  tlie  fly  was  born  with  his  children  cradled  in  his 
body,  and  in  the  bosom  of  the  fish  itself  this  new  gener- 
ation finds  its  garden  of  Eden,  where  it  cats,  if  not  from 
the  tree  of  knowledge,  at  least  the  tree  of  life.  So  while 
the  new  born  ephemera  give  the  new-born  fish  a  break- 
fast, the  eater  unconsciously  adopts  the  children  of  the 
fly,  nurses  them  in  his  body,  and  when  they  are  grown 
to  their  majority,  sets  free  these  creatures,  which  had  so 
strange  a  birth  and  bringing  up  in  this  little  floating  col- 
lege of  a  country  brook.  Does  God  take  care  for  oxen  ? 
asks  St.  Paul.  Ay,  as  well  as  for  man,  and  sends  his 
apostles  to  these  little  creatures  whose  life  is  so  brief. 
The  perpetuation  of  their  race  is  provided  for,  and  they 
have  organs  which  take  hold  on  eternity.  Truly  the  in- 
finite God  is  fatherly  providence  to  the  little  fly  born  in 


424  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

a  spring  day,  and  perishing  in  an  hour  after  it  sees  the 
light. 

What  wonders  of  nature  go  on  all  around  us  to-day ! 
From  the  top  of  some  tall  house,  look  on  the  fair  mantle 
which  nature  has  just  cast  on  all  the  hills  ahout  us,  and 
whicli  falls  with  such  handsome  folds  into  every  valley. 
Go  into  any  one  of  the  towns  near  at  hand,  and  see  what 
there  takes  place.  There  is  not  an  apple-tree  but  has 
put  its  wedding  garments  on.  The  elm  has  half  ripened 
its  fruit ;  the  maple  is  making  provision  for  whole  for- 
ests of  future  joy  ;  while  the  trees  which  the  farmer 
plants  for  profitable  use,  and  not  for  beauty,  are  white 
with  the  oracles  of  prophecy.  It  is  a  revival  of  nature, 
whereof  the  sun  is  the  evangelical  preacher.  No  city 
government  warns  him  off  from  the  common,  for  he 
preaches  iho,  everlasting  gospel  of  the  blessed  God, 
wherewith  he  rejoices  both  old  and  young.  There  is  no 
heresy  in  that.  All  nature  hears  him,  and  expounds 
his  word  of  life.  The  silent  fishes  plentifully  obey  the 
first  of  God's  commands ;  the  tuneful  birds  repeat  their 
litany,  chanting  their  morning  and  evening  psalm  ;  all 
the  trees  put  on  their  bridal  garments, — these  candi- 
dates for  the  divine  communion,  who  have  come  to  take 
part  in  this  great  epiphany,  the  natural  manifestation  of 
God  to  these  Gentiles  of  the  field  and  wood.  They  also 
share  the  Pentecost  of  the  year,  and  celebrate  their 
thanksgiving  with  such  abundance  as  they  can  or  know. 
What  a  Pentecost  of  new  life  is  there  !  Every  bush 
burns  and  is  not  consumed  ;  yea,  greatens  and  multi- 
plies in  its  bloom  and  blossom,  and  the  ground  seems 
holy  with  new  revelation ;  it  is  a  white  Sunday  all  round 
the  town.  How  grand  and  vigorous  the  new  blade 
comes  out  from  the  earth  ;  and  ere  long  these  will  be 
sheaves,  and  oxen  will  laboriously  drag  home  the  far- 


SPRING.  425 

mer's  load  of  grain,  whicli  in  due  time  will  be  changed 
to  other  oxen,  and  then  likewise  to  farmers  too,  and  so 
be  resurrected  in  his  sons  and  daughters.  What  a  mar- 
vellous transfiguration  is  that !  first  the  seed,  then  the 
plant,  then  the  harvest,  next  bread,  and  at  length  Moses, 
Elias,  Jesus  !  No  Hel)rew  writer  of  legend  could  ever 
finish  half  so  fair  a  miracle  as  this,  wherein  is  no  mira- 
cle, but  constant  law  at  every  step.  Last  autumn  in 
some  of  the  pastures  fire  ran  along  the  wall,  and  left  the 
ground  black  with  its  ephemeral  charcoal,  where  now 
the  little  wind-flower  lifts  its  delicate  form  and  bends  its 
slender  neck,  and  blushes  with  its  own  beauty,  gathered 
from  the  black  ground  out  of  which  it  grew;  or  some 
trillium  opens  its  painted  cup,  and  in  due  time  will 
sbow  its  fruit,  a  beautiful  berry  there.  So  out  of  human 
soil,  blackened  by  another  fire  which  has  swept  over  it, 
in  due  time  great  flowers  will  come  out  in  the  form  of 
spiritual  beauty  not  yet  seen,  and  other  fruit  grow  there, 
whose  seed  is  in  itself,  and  which  had  not  ripened  but 
out  of  that  black  ground.  Thus  the  lilies  of  peace  cover 
the  terrible  field  of  Waterloo,  and  out  of  the  grave  of 
our  dear  ones  there  spring  up  such  flowers  of  spiritual 
loveliness  as  you  and  I  else  had  never  known.  It  is  not 
from  the  tall,  crowded  warehouse  of  prosperity  that  men 
first  or  clearest  see  the  eternal  stars  of  heaven.  It  is 
often  from  the  humble  spot  where  we  have  laid  down 
our  dear  ones  that  we  find  our  best  observatory,  which 
gives  us  glimpses  into  the  far-off  world  of  never-ending 
time. 

In  the  hard,  cold  winter  of  our  northern  lands,  how  do 
we  feel  a  longing  for  the  presence  of  life.  Then  we  love 
to  look  on  a  pine  or  fir  tree,  which  seems  the  only  living 
thing  in  tlie  woods,  surrounded  by  dead  oaks,  birches, 
maple,  looking  like  the  grave-stones   of  buried  vegeta- 


426  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

tion :  that  seems  warm  and  living  then ;  and  at  Christ- 
mas men  bring  it  into  meeting-houses  and  parlors,  and 
set  it  up,  full  of  life,  and  laden  with  kindly  gifts  for  the 
little  folk.  Then  even  the  unattractive  crow  seems  half 
sacred,  through  the  winter  bearing  messages  of  promise 
from  the  perished  autumn  to  the  advancing  spring,  — 
this  dark  forerunner  of  the  tuneful  tribes  which  are  to 
come.  We  feel  a  longing  for  fresh  green  nature,  and  so 
in  the  shelter  of  our  houses  keep  some  little  Aaron's  rod, 
budding  alike  with  promise  and  memory  ;  or  in  some 
hyacinth  or  Dutchman's  tulip  we  keep  a  prophecy  of 
flowers,  and  start  off  some  little  John  to  run  before,  and  . 
with  his  half-gospel  tell  of  some  great  Emmanuel,  and 
signify  to  men  that  the  kingdom  of  heavenly  beauty  is 
near  at  hand.  Now  that  forerunner  disappears,  for  the 
desire  of  all  nations  has  truly  come ;  the  green  grass  is 
creeping  everywhere,  and  it  is  spangled  with  many-col- 
ored flowers  that  come  unasked.  The  dullest  bush 
tingles  with  new  life  in  all  its  limbs.  How  the  old 
apple-tree  blushes  at  the  genial  salutation  vv^hispered  by 
the  wind,  the  Gabriel  of  heaven,  that  freest  agent  of 
Almiglity  power,  "  Hail,  thou  that  art  highly  favored ! 
Thou  hast  found  favor  with  God,  and  in  due  time  shalt 
rejoice,  and  drop  thy  Messianic  apples  down."  Already 
the  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  is  here,  —  the  black- 
bird, the  robin,  the  brown  thrush,  the  purple  finch,  and 
the  fire-hang-bird ;  these  build  their  nests,  while  they 
sing,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace,  good 
will  toward  men." 

What  if  there  was  a  spring-time  of  blossoming  but 
once  in  a  hundred  years !  How  would  men  look  forward 
to  it,  and  old  men  who  had  beheld  its  wonders  tell  the 
story  to  their  children,  how  once  all  the  homely  trees 
became  beautiful,  and  earth  was  covered  with  freshness 


SPRING.  427 

and  new  growth.  How  would  young  men  hope  to  be- 
come old  that  they  might  see  so  glad  a  sight ;  and  when 
beheld,  the  aged  man  would  say,  "  Lord,  now  Icttestthou 
thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy 
salvation  !  "  Nay,  wise  men  who  knew  the  signs  of  the 
times  would  follow  that  star  of  spring  till  it  stood  over 
that  happy  country  where  the  young  child  was,  and  then 
fall  down  and  worship  him.  But  now,  in  every  year,  in  all 
lands,  this  Messianic  beauty  is  born,  this  star  stands  still 
over  every  garden,  every  farm.  It  pauses  over  each  elder- 
bush,  and  does  not  disdain  the  buttercup  and  dandelion, 
for  like  that  other  Messiah,  these  also  lie  in  the  oxen's  crib. 

What  a  solidarity  there  is  between  the  world  of  matter 
and  its  inhabitants.  They  suit  and  fit  each  other,  like 
him  and  her.  From  inorganic  matter  up  to  the  highest 
man  there  is  a  gradual  and  continual  ascent.  Vege- 
tation is  a  ring,  whereunto  animation  is  a  living  precious 
stone,  with  which  God  marries  man  to  nature ;  and  the 
world  of  spirit  and  the  world  of  matter  are  no  longer 
twain,  but  the  two  are  wedlocked  into  one.  How  the 
world  of  matter  is  grateful  to  our  flesh !  To  canny 
man  the  Avorld  is  very  kind.  It  feeds  us,  clothes,  houses, 
heals,  and  at  last  folds  us  in  its  bosom,  whence  our  flesh 
is  a  perpetual  resurrection,  and  rises  again  into  other 
men,  while  the  soul  invisible  fares  further  on  in  the  as- 
cending march  of  infinite  progression,  whereof  we  see 
the  beginning,  and  to  which  there  is  no  end. 

How  the  world  delights  us  with  its  beauty,  —  feeding, 
clothing,  housing,  healing,  the  nobler  part  of  man ! 
Even  the  savage  and  the  baby  love  the  handsome  things 
of  earth.  Little  Two-year-old,  a  lumpy  baby,  as  merry 
as  a  May-bee,  comes  stumbling  through  the  grass,  and 
loves  to  pick  the  attractive  flowers,  drawn  by  their  very 
loveliness,  that  will  not  feed  his  mouth,  but  feed  his  soul. 


428  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

Thoughtful  man  makes  a  grand  eclecticism  of  lovelincs-; 
from  earth,  air,  water,  sky,  and  rainbows  both  Joseph's 
and  Josephine's  coat,  builds  his  house  with  architectural 
beauty,  has  painting,  sculpture,  and  music  to  attend  him. 

What  a  fair  sign  of  God's  all-embracing  love  is  found 
in  this  presence  of  beauty,  —  a  sweet  charm  which  fasci- 
nates us  to  refinement  and  elevation  of  character  !  It 
does  not  seem  needful  to  the  conception  of  the  world 
that  nature  should  be  beautiful.  Why  need  any  star  be 
limned  so  fair  ?  The  moon  must  walk,  —  but  need  she 
walk  in  beauty  ?  Why  should  the  form  of  the  apple, 
peach,  nut,  the  blossom  of  the  Indian  corn,  and  every 
little  grain,  be  made  so  handsome  ?  Surely  they  could 
feed  us  just  as  well  otherwise.  Why  set  off  beast  and 
bird  with  such  magnificence,  and  so  clothe  the  grass  of 
the  field,  which  is  here  to-day,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into 
the  oven  ?  Why  make  the  morning  and  night  such 
handsome  children,  and  purple  the  anemone  with  the 
charcoal  Avhere  heedless  boys  have  burned  the  grass,  and 
out  of  battle-fields  bring  such  loveliness,  beauty  cradled 
in  the  bloody  arms  of  strength  ?  You  can  read  it  all. 
A  great  poet  told  it  two  hundred  years  ago  :  "  O  Mighty 
Love !  Man  is  one  world,  and  hath  another  to  attend 
him ;  "  and  it  answers  to  his  being  more  tenderly  than 
he  thinks.  So  long  as  a  single  star  burns  in  lieaven 
with  fire,  or  a  rose  on  earth  flings  out  her  own  loveliness, 
or  the  water-lily  rings  beauty's  sweet-toned  bells,  no  He- 
brew or  Christian  revelation  shall  make  me  doubt  the 
infinite  loving-kindness  of  God,  to  saint  and  sinner  too. 
Every  violet,  every  dandelion,  every  daffodil,  or  jonquil, 
is  a  preacher  sent  to  tell  us  of  the  loving-kindness  of 
God.  For  that  doctrine,  at  this  hour  there  is  a  sermon 
on  every  mount,  east,  south,  west,  or  north. 

And  how  this  world  of  beauty  and  use  is  a  school- 


SPRING.  429 

house  also  for  the  mind,  and  a  church  likewise  for  the 
soul,  to  inspire  men  with  devotion  !  In  tropic  lands, 
swept  by  hurricanes,  rent  by  earthquakes,  or  desolated 
by  volcanoes,  I  do  not  wonder  that  men  believe  in  a  devil 
who  sometimes  gets  the  better  of  the  good  God.  Super- 
stition is  a  natural  weed  in  the  savage  human  soil,  which 
yet  the  rising  religious  blade  overtops  and  lives  down, 
and  kills  out  at  last.  It  is  not  surprising  that  every- 
where rude  but  thoughtful  men  looked  on  the  falling 
earth  and  steadfast  sky,  and  saw  the  many  forms  of 
wondrous,  yet  uncomprehended  life,  and  said,  "All  these 
things  are  gods,"  and  sought  to  w^orship  them.  Nature 
is  the  primer  where  man  first  learns  of  God.  There, 
"  day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night 
showeth  knowledge.  There  is  no  voice  nor  language," 
—  yet  the  eye  finds  revelations:  not  only  to  Hebrew 
Moses,  but  to  all  humankind,  God  speaks  in  every  burn- 
ing bush,  and  the  rising  of  nature's  song  wakes  new 
morning  in  the  soul  of  man.  This  perpetual  renewal  of 
vegetation,  this  annual  wonder  of  blossoming, —  what  a 
religious  revelation  it  offers  to  us  !  How  it  fills  us  with 
admiration,  trust,  and  love  !  Every  flowering  bush  burns 
with  God,  and  is  not  consumed.  With  neither  trick  nor 
miracle,  he  changes  water  into  wine  on  all  the  vine-clad 
hills  of  Italy,  France,  and  Spain,  and  fills,  not  five  thou- 
sand men,  but  five  thousand  times  two  hundred  thou- 
sand,—  a  thousand  million  men,  —  every  day;  and  on 
the  broken  bread  of  this  meal  supports  the  multitudinous 
armies  of  beast,  bird,  fish,  insect,  reptile.  No  little 
worm  is  turned  away  unfed  from  that  dear  Father's 
board,  where  the  trencher  is  set,  and  all  things  made 
ready  for  the  ephemeron  born  this  minute,  and  to  perish 
the  next  hour.  Compared  to  this  wonder  of  law,  the 
tales  of  miracle,  of  the  Old  Testament  or  New,  are  no 


480  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

fact,  but  poor  poetry.  They  are  like  ghosts  among  a 
market  full  of  busy  men  and  women. 

How  old  is  the  material  world,  and  yet  for  ever  fresh 
and  young!  So  it  is  with  the  human  world.  If  the 
race  of  men  be  thirty  thousand  years  old,  then  there  are 
a  thousand  fathers  between  us  and  the  first  man  ;  and 
yet  you  and  I  are  just  as  new  and  fresh,  and  just  as  near 
to  God,  as  the  first  father  and  mother.  We  derive  our 
humanity  from  him,  not  them  ;  and  hold  it  by  divine 
patent  from  the  Creator  of  all.  Mankind  never  grows 
old.  You  and  I  pass  off  as  leaves  are  blown  from  the 
trees,  decay,  and  are  exhaled,  becoming  but  vapors  of 
the  sky  again.  So  also  do  nations  grow  old  and  pass 
away.  At  the  gate  where  Egypt,  Assyria,  Judasa,  Greece, 
Sparta,  and  Rome,  were  admitted  through,  stand  Spain 
and  Italy  to-day,  beating  at  the  door  and  crying, 
"  Divinest  Mother,  let  thy  weary  daughters  in  !  "  They 
will  pass  to  the  judgment  of  nations,  and  in  due  time 
Britain  and  America  will  be  gathered  to  their  fathers, 
but  mankind  will  have  still,  as  now,  the  bloom  of  im- 
mortal youth  about  his  handsome  brow.  Thirty  thou- 
sand years,  perhaps  sixty,  nobody  knows  how  long,  has 
he  lived  here  ;  still  not  a  hair  is  gray,  no  sense  is  dull, 
the  eye  of  this  old  Moses  of  humanity  is  not  dim,  nor  is 
his  natural  strength  abated  ;  and  new  nations  are  still 
born  as  vigorous  as  the  old,  and  to  a  much  better  estate. 

The  last  three  generations  have  done  more  than  any 
six  before  in  science,  letters,  art,  religion,  and  the  great- 
est art  of  bearing  men  and  building  them  into  families, 
communities,  nations,  and  the  human  world.  The  reli- 
gious faculty  vegetates  into  new  churches,  animates  into 
new  civilization  men  and  women.  Tell  me  of  Moses, 
Isaiah,  Confucius,  Zoroaster,  Buddha,  Pythagoras,  Jesus, 
Paul,   Mohammed,   Aquinas,   Luther,    and  Calvin,  —  a 


SPRING.  431 

whole  calendar  full  of  saints !  I  give  God  thanks  for 
them,  and  bare  my  brow,  and  do  them  reverence,  and  sit 
down  at  their  feet  to  learn  what  they  have  to  offer.  They 
are  but  leaves  and  fruit  on  the  tree  of  humanity,  which 
still  goes  on  leafing,  flowering,  fruiting,  with  other  Isaiahs 
and  Christs,  whereof  there  is  no  end.  As  the  tree  grows 
taller,  the  wealth  of  blossoms  is  more,  and  so  too  the 
liarvest  of  its  fruit.  When  the  woods  have  not  a  leaf, 
when  the  ocean  has  not  a  drop,  when  the  sun  has  not  a 
particle  of  life,  still  shall  the  soul  of  man  look  up  to  God, 
and  reverence  the  infinite  Father  and  Mother,  love  and 
trust ;  for  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  and  gave 
him  to  be  partaker  of  his  own  immortality,  and  no  devil 
can  filch  his  birthright  away  from  the  meanest  man.  No 
virtue  fades  out  of  mankind.  Not  over-hopeful  by  in- 
born temperament,  cautious  by  long  experience,  I  yet 
never  despair  of  human  virtue.  The  little  charity  which 
palliates  effects  sometimes  fails,  but  the  great  justice 
which  removes  the  causes  of  ill  is  as  eternal  as  God.  So 
the  most  precious  corn  of  humanity  which  I  gather  from 
the  pastures  of  ethics  and  history,  and  out  of  the  deep, 
well-ploughed  field  of  philosophy,  I  sow  beside  the  waters, 
nothing  doubting.  Some  falls  on  a  rock,  where  suddenly 
it  starts,  and  presently  withers  away.  The  shallow- 
minded  bring  no  fruit  to  perfection,  and  only  produce 
ears  of  chaff.  Some  drops  by  the  wayside,  and  covetous- 
ness,  lust,  vanity,  and  ambition,  devour  it  up,  rioting  to- 
day on  what  should  be  seed-corn  for  future  generations. 
Some  is  blown  before  bigots,  who  trample  it  under  their 
feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  me  with  their  sermons  and 
their  prayers.  But  I  know  that  most  of  it  will  fall  into 
good  ground, —  earnest,  honest  meu  and  women,  where 
in  due  time,  if  not  in  my  day,  it  will  spring  up,  and  bear 
fruit  of   everlasting  life,  some  thirty-fold,  some  forty, 


432  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

some  sixty,  and  some  a  hundred.  Hopeful  mankind  is 
not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers,  nor  lets  an  angel 
pass  for  lack  of  invitation.  Tenacious  mankind  lets  slip 
no  good  that  is  old. 

"  One  accent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
The  heedless  world  has  never  lost,"  — 

nor  ever  will. 

But  while  the  human  race  is  on  the  earth,  —  its  con- 
tinuing city,  ever  building,  never  done,  —  our  individual 
life  has  also  another  spriiig.  Death  is  but  a  blossoming 
out  from  the  bulbous  body,  which  kept  the  precious  germ 
all  winter  long,  and  now  the  shards  fall  oft",  and  the  im- 
mortal flower  opens  its  beauty,  which  God  transfers  to 
his  own  paradise,  fragrant  with  men's  good  deeds  and 
good  thoughts ;  nay,  where  their  good  wishes  and  prayers 
pass  at  their  proper  worth. 

There  runs  a  story  that  one  Passover  Sabbath-day 
when  Jesus  was  a  boy  of  twelve,  he  stood  with  liis 
mother  at  the  door  of  their  little  cottage  in  Nazareth, — 
his  father  newly  dead,  and  his  brotliers  and  sisters 
playing  their  noisy  games,  —  and  he  said,  "  0  mother, 
would  that  I  had  lived  in  the  times  when  there  was 
open  .vision,  and  the  Lord  visited  the  earth,  as  in  the 
days  of  Adam,  Abraham,  and  Moses.  These  are  sad 
times,  mother,  which  we  have  fallen  in." 

Mary  laid  the  baby,  sleeping,  from  her  arms,  and 
took  a  sprig  of  hyssop  out  of  the  narrow  wall,  and  said, 
"  Lo,  God  is  here  !  and,  my  boy,  not  less  than  on  Jacob's 
Ladder  do  angels  herein  go  up  and  down.  It  is  spring- 
time now,  and  the  voice  of  the  turtle  is  heard  in  our 
land,  and  the  blossom  of  this  grape-vine  is  fragrant  with 
God.  The  date-tree,  the  white  rose  of  Sharon,  and  the 
lily  of  the  valley,  root  in  him.  He  is  in  your  little  gar- 
den out  there,  not  less  than  in  grand  Eden,  \\ith  Adam 


SPRING.  433 

and  Eve.  Look,  how  the  setting  sun  has  illumined  all 
the  hills  !  What  a  purple  glory  flames  in  the  west,  and 
is  reflected  in  the  east,  where  the  full  moon  tells  us  it  is 
Passover  day." 

"  Nay,  mother,"  said  the  thoughtful  boy,  "  but  He  has 
left  the  soul  of  Israel  for  their  sins,  —  so  Rabbi  Jonas 
told  us  in  the  synagogue  to-day.  Oh  that  I  had  lived 
with  Elias  or  Amos,  when  the  Spirit  fell  on  men  !  1 
had  also  been  filled  with  Him." 

And  Mary  took  up  her  wakened  baby,  who  began  to 
cry,  and  stilling  it  in  her  bosom,  she  said,  "  The  sins  of 
Israel,  my  boy,  are  like  Rebecca's  cry.  God  is  more 
mother  to  the  children  of  Israel  than  I  to  her.  Do  you 
think  he  will  forsake  the  world  ?  This  little  baby  is  as 
new  as  Adam ;  and  God  is  as  near  to  you  as  he  was  to 
Abraham,  Moses,  Amos,  or  Elias.  He  speaks  to  you 
as  to  Samuel.  He  never  withdraws  from  the  soul  of 
men,  but  the  day-spring  from  on  high  comes  continually 
to  the  soul  of  each.  Open  the  window,  and  the  sun  of 
righteousness  comes  in." 

And  Jesus  paused,  the  story  tells,  and  sat  there,  and 
while  his  mother  laid  the  little  ones  silently  away  in 
their  poor  cribs,  he  watched  the  purple  fade  out  from 
the  sky,  and  the  great  moon  pouring  out  her  white  fire, 
with  a  star  or  two  to  keep  her  company  in  heaven. 
And  when  the  moon  was  overhead,  there  came  two 
young  lovers,  newly-wed,  and  as  Jesus  caught  the  joy 
of  their  talk  to  one  another,  and  smelt  the  fragrance  of 
the  blooming  grape,  there  came  a  gush  of  devotion  in 
his  young  heart,  and  he  said,  "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto;  I  also  will  work,"  —  and  laid  him  down  to  his 
dreams  and  slept,  preparatory  to  the  work  which  fills 
the  world. 

28 


434  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 


PRAYER. 

0  THOU  who  art  always  near  to  us,  we  in  our  con- 
sciousness would  for  a  moment  draw  near  unto  thee, 
and  feeling  thee  at  our  heart,  would  remember  the 
circumstances  of  our  daily  lives,  the  joys  we  delight  in, 
the  sorrows  we  bear,  the  sins  wherewith  we  transgress 
against  thee,  the  grave,  and  solemn,  and  joyous  duties 
thou  givest  us  to  do. 

0  thou  who  givest  to  mankind  liberally,  we  thank 
thee  for  the  world  of  matter  wherein  thou  hast  placed 
us,  for  the  heavens  above  our  head,  for  the  stars  that 
burn  in  perennial  splendor,  though  the  misty  exhala- 
tions of  the  earth  may  hide  them  from  our  sight.  We 
bless  thee  for  the  sun  which  above  the  clouds  pours 
down  the  light,  and  creates  a  world  of  beauty,  ere  long 
to  be  opened  to  our  mortal  sense.  We  thank  thee  for 
this  great  foodful  ground  underneath  our  feet,  now 
garmented  with  such  loveliness,  and  adorned  with  the 
manifold  radiance  of  thy  loving-kindness  and  thy  tender 
mercy.  We  thank  thee  for  the  grass  everywhere  grow- 
ing for  the  cattle,  and  for  the  bread  which  the  farmer's 
thoughtful  toil  wins  by  thy  providence  from  out  the  fer- 
tile ground.  We  thank  thee  for  the  seed  he  has  cast 
into  its  furrows,  and  the  blade  piercing  the  earth  with 
its  oracle  of  promise,  foretelling  the  weeks  of  harvest 
which  are  sure  to  follow  in  their  appointed  time.  We 
thank  thee  that  in  the  cold  rain  from  the  skies,  thou 
sheddest  down  the  unseen  causes  of  harvests  both  of 
use  and  of  beauty  which  are  yet  to  come. 


PRA  YER.  435 

We  thank  thee  for  the  love  with  which  thou  givest 
thy  benediction  to  everything  which  thou  hast  made. 
Thou  pasturest  thy  clouds  on  every  ocean  field ;  thou 
feedest  thy  mountains  from  the  breast  of  heaven;  thou 
blessest  the  flowers  on  a  thousand  hills ;  thou  suppliest 
the  young  lions  when  they  hunger  from  lack  of  meat ; 
thou  clothe st  the  lily  with  beauty  more  than  queenly, 
and  through  all  these  outward  things  that  perish  thou 
speakest  of  thine  infinite  providence,  which  watches 
over  every  sparrow  that  falls,  and  holds  in  thy  hand  the 
wandering  orbs  of  heaven. 

We  thank  thee  also  for  this  great,  glorious  human 
nature  which  thou  hast  blessed  us  with.  We  thank  thee 
for  the  body,  so  curiously  and  wonderfully  made,  fitted 
for  all  the  various  purposes  of  human  need  ;  and  we 
thank  thee  for  this  spiritual  part  which  thou  hast 
breathed  into  this  mortal. 

We  bless  thee  for  this  toilsome  and  far-reaching  mind, 
which  gives  us  dominion  over  the  earth  beneath  our  feet, 
and  makes  the  winds  and  the  waters  serve  us ;  which 
tames  the  lightning  of  heaven,  and  learns  the  time 
from  the  stars  by  night  and  the  sun  by  day.  We  thank 
thee  for  that  great  world  of  artistic  use  and  beauty,  and 
of  scientific  truth,  which  the  human  mind  has  made  to 
blossom  from  out  this  foodful  ground  and  these  starry 
heavens  wherewith  thou  girdest  us  about. 

We  bless  thee  for  the  moral  sense,  hungering  and 
thirsting  after  righteousness,  and  that  thou  fillest  our 
conscience  with  thine  own  justice,  enlightening  our 
pathway  with  the  lamp  of  right,  shining  with  its  ever 
unchanging  beams  to  light  alike  the  way  of  thy  com- 
mandments and  of  human  toil  upon  the  earth. 

We  thank  thee  for  these  dear  aifections,  which  set  the 
solitary  in  families,  and  of  twain  make  one,  and  thence 


436  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

bring  many  forth,  peopling  the  world  with  infantile 
gladness,  which  grows  up  to  manhood  and  to  woman- 
hood in  all  their  various  forms.  We  thank  thee  for  that 
unselfish  and  self-forgetful  love  which  toils  for  the  needy, 
which  is  eyes  for  the  blind  and  feet  for  the  lame,  and 
is  wisdom  for  the  fool,  and  spreads  civilization  all  round 
the  world,  giving  freedom  to  the  slave  and  light  to  those 
who  have  long  sat  in  darkness. 

We  thank  thee  for  this  overmastering  religious 
faculty,  —  the  flower  of  intellect  and  conscience  and  the 
affections,  —  and  we  bless  thee  that  by  this  we  know  thee 
instinctively,  and  have  a  joyous  delight  in  thy  presence, 
opening  our  flower,  whereinto  thou  sheddest  gentle  dew, 
warming  it  with  all  thy  fatherly  and  motherly  love, 
blessing  us  from  day  to  day,  from  age  to  age. 

We  thank  thee  for  the  great  triumphs  of  the  human 
race,  —  that  while  thou  createst  us  individually  as  little 
babies,  and  collectively  as  wild  men,  slowly  but  certainly 
thou  leadest  thy  children  from  low  beginnings,  ever  up- 
ward and  ever  forward,  towards  those  glorious  heights 
which  our  eyes  hav^e  not  seen  nor  our  forefeeling  hearts 
completely  understood.  We  thank  thee  for  the  truth, 
the  justice,  the  philanthropy,  and  the  piety  which  elder 
ages  have  brought  forth  and  sent  down  to  us,  to  gladden 
our  eyes  and  to  delight  our  hearts.  We  thank  thee 
for  those  great,  noble  souls  whom  thou  createdst  with 
genius  and  filledst  with  its  normal  inspiration,  who  have 
shed  light  along  the  human  path  in  many  a  dark  day 
of  our  human  history,  and  in  every  savage  land.  And 
above  all  these  do  we  thank  thee  for  that  noble  brother 
of  humanity,  who,  in  his  humble  life,  in  a  few  years, 
revealed  to  us  so  much  of  justice,  so  much  of  love,  and 
with  such  blameless  piety  looked  up  to  thee,  while  he 
forgave  his  enemies,  putting  up  a  prayer  for  them.    And 


pn.i  YER.  437 

not  less,  0  Father,  do  we  thank  thee  for  the  millions 
of  men  and  women,  who  with  common  gifts  and  noble 
faithfulness  have  trod  the  way  of  life,  doing  their  daily 
duties  all  unabashed  by  fear  of  men.  We  thank  thee 
for  what  has  been  wrought  out  by  these  famous  or  these 
humble  hands,  which  has  come  down  to  us. 

0  Lord,  we  thank  thee  for  thyself.  Father  and  Mother 
to  the  little  child  and  the  man  full-grown.  We  thank 
thee  that  thou  lovest  thy  savage  and  thy  civilized,  and 
puttcst  the  arms  of  motherly  kindness  about  thy  saint 
and  round  thy  sinner  too.  0  thou  who  art  Infinite  in 
power  and  in  wisdom,  we  bless  thee  that  we  are  sure 
not  less  of  thine  infinite  justice  and  thy  perfect  love. 
Yea,  we  thank  thee,  that  out  of  these  perfections  thou 
hast  made  alike  the  world  of  matter  and  of  man,  pro- 
viding a  glorious  destination  for  every  living  thing  which 
thou  broughtest  forth. 

We  remember  before  thee  our  daily  lives,  and  we  pray 
thee  that  in  us  there  may  be  such  knowledge  of  thy  true 
perfection,  such  a  feeling  of  our  nature's  nobleness,  that 
we  shall  love  thee  with  all  our  understanding,  with  all 
our  heart  and  soul.  We  remember  the  various  toils  thou 
givest  us,  the  joys  we  rejoice  in,  the  sins  we  have  often 
committed,  and  we  pray  thee  that  there  may  be  such 
strength  of  piety  within  us  that  it  shall  bring  all  our 
powers  to  serve  thee  in  a  perfect  concord  of  harmonious 
life.  In  youth  may  no  sins  of  passion  destroy  or  disturb 
the  soul,  but  may  we  use  our  members  for  their  most 
noble  work ;  and  in  manhood's  more  dangerous  hour 
may  no  ambition  lead  us  astray  from  the  true  path  of 
duty  and  of  joy.  Wherever  thou  castest  the  lines  of  our 
lot,  there  may  we  serve  thee  daily  with  a  life  which  is  a 
constant  communion  with  thyself.  So  day  by  day  may 
we  transfigure  ourselves  into  nobler  images  of  thy  spirit, 


438  VIEWS   OF  RELIGION. 

walk  ever  in  the  light  of  thy  countenance,  and  pass  from 
the  glory  of  a  manly  prayer  to  the  grander  glory  of  a 
manly  life,  upright  before  thee,  and  downright  before 
men,  and  so  serve  thee  in  the  flesh  till  all  our  days  are 
holy  days,  and  every  work,  act,  and  thought  becomes 
a  sacrament  as  uplifting  as  our  prayer.  So  may  thy 
kingdom  come,  and  thy  "will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven. 


INDEX. 


AARON,   budding  rod,  426.     (See 

-^     Moses.) 

Abel:  blood  of,  76,  77,  83;  providen- 
tial death,  122;  justice  done,  155. 
(See  Cain.) 

Abraham:  divine  contract,  125;  chil- 
dren, 259,  207,  284;  theology,  300; 
sacrifice  of  Isaac,  301 ;  era,  308;  the 
Word  older,  315;  commended,  340; 
near  God,  433.  (See  Jews,  Old  Tes- 
tament.) 

Absolute  Religion,  lived  by  Jesus,  208. 

Achilles,  of  doctrines,  298. 

Activity,  in  heaven,  357. 

Acts,  Book  of,  errors,  307.  (See  Bible, 
Epistles,  New  Testament,  Paul.) 

Adam:  allusion,  57;  the  second,  401; 
near  God,  432  ;  every  babe,  433. 
(See  Eve.) 

Adamite  Man,  351. 

Adam's  Fall:  allusion,  37;  a  surprise 
to  God,  127. 

Affection:  as  a  human  faculty,  194, 
195,  212;  sublimated,  379,  380. 

Affections:  revealing  truth,  46;  medi- 
ators with  God,  52;  place,  237,  2.;8; 
increased,  244 ;  and  immortalitv, 
350.     (See  Love.) 

Affinity,  everywhere  in  nature,  139. 

Africa  :  sadness,  83  ;  pi-ovidential 
slaverj'  (q.  v.),  134. 

Ages,  Jesus'  relation  (q.  v.)  to  the, 
250-272. 

Age:  teachings  and  hopes,  192,  193; 
injury  in  3'outh,  227. 

Age,  the  Present,  will  be  accounted  one 
of  darkness,  315. 

Air:  illustration,  67,  68;   faithful  pre- 

^  server  of  words,  290.     (See   Wind.) 

A  Kempis,  Thomas  :  precious  writ- 
ings, 1S2;  helpful,  254;  sweetness, 
370. 

Alewivcs.  God's  care  of,  422.  (See 
Ainmals,  Eishes.) 


Alexander  the  Great,  his  failure,  230. 

Allah,  a  divine  name.  04.     (See  God.) 

Alphabet :  illustration,  69 ;  no  return 
to,  205. 

Alps:  land-slide,  130;  avalanche,  176. 

Amalekites,  providential,  133. 

Amazon  River,  illustration  of  theism, 
111. 

America:  slavery  (q.  v.),  77;  sadness, 
83  ;  Ilegelianism,  88;  foreknown, 
101, 102  :  Continental  Congress,  134; 
perils,  151,  155,  100;  devotion  to 
intellect,  157;  indifference  to  reli- 
gion, 208,  209 ;  brilliant  names,  228  ; 
reformers,  230;  gone,  232;  siiid  to 
have  no  need  of  great  men,  256; 
Protestants,  329 ;  revived  nature, 
422;  gathered  to  its  fathers,  430. 
(See  En(]land,  United  States) 

American  Revolution :  foreknown,  102, 
103  ;  courage  of  our  ancestors  228, 
229. 

American  Tract  Society,  420. 

Amos:  inspiration,  49;  providential, 
135  ;  spirit  longed  for,  433 ;  near 
God,  433.     (See  Prophets.) 

Amulet,  as  a  providence,  113. 

Anacreon,  326. 

Analysis,  Channing's  power  of,  373. 

Andes:  illustration  of  faith,  340  ;  pic- 
ture, 411. 

Angels:  troubling  the  pool,  161;  robe 
of.  294;  of  death,  352;  warning  by, 
361 ;  s]ieaking  through  men,  374 ;  in 
Channinir,  376;  their  song  made 
realit}',  396. 

Animals:  teaching  God,  87;  called 
machines,  120;  law  of  vitality,  139; 
divine  life,  240;  their  idea  about 
man,  241 ;  more  than  vegetables, 
241 ;  perfect,  351 ;  beauty  among, 
397-418  passim;  carpet  for,  420; 
how  clad,  421.  (See  Birds,  Insects, 
Eishes,  Nature.) 


440 


INDEX. 


Antarctic  Circle,  398, 420.  (See  Arctic.) 

Antliropomorpliisui,  illustrated,  11,  12. 
(See  God.) 

Anvil  and  Hammer,  216. 

Apocalypse:  cruel  pictures  of  God, 
113,  114  ;  touched  by  criticism,  307. 
(See  Jvhn.) 

Apocrypha:  Wisdom,  107;  quoted, 
138 ;  record  of  courage,  228 ;  received 
by  the  Fathers,  333.  (See  Bible, 
Old  Testament.) 

Apollo:  considered  a  devil,  60;  in  the 
marble,  247. 

Apollonius  of  Tyana,  miracles  (q.  v.), 
303. 

Apostles:  inspired  through  obedience, 
40;  their  piety  outgrown,  213;  cour- 
age, 228,  229;  power  erroneously 
promised,  278;  changed  views,  308; 
mistakes,  323  ;  superior  to  Old  Tes- 
tament, 333.     (See  Ejnstles.) 

Appetite:  above  cookery,  16;  tyranny, 
226. 

Apple,  unripe,  373.    (See  Fruit,  Trees.) 

Aqueduct,  illustrating  religion,  180. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  a  blessing,  430. 

Archimedes,  science  of,  305. 

Architecture,  in  cathedrals,  400. 

Arctic  Circle,  realm,  398,  422. 

Arethusa's  Fountain,  221. 

Arguments,  used  by  Jesus,  273.  (See 
Reason.) 

Aristocracy,  monopoly  of  intellectual- 
ity, 147.' 

Aristotle:  philosophy,  237,  274,  275; 
reason,  253;  scorn,  277. 

Arithmetic,  wonderful  human,  404. 
(See  Mathematics.) 

Arius,  his  ideas,  298.    (See  Unitarian.) 

Ark:  illustration  of  atheism,  80;  per- 
ishable, 320. 

Armada,  Spanish,  70. 

Arnold's  Brain-map,  73. 

Art :  replacing  nature,  253;  bungling, 
350;  Moorish,  421;  advance,  430. 
(See  Raphael,  &c.) 

Arts:  stirred  by  religion,  20,  21;  in- 
spired, 46  ;  following  ideas,  188,  189. 

Asceticism,  not  religion,  275. 

Asia,  revival  of  nature,  422. 

Asiatics,  not  theists,  59. 

Assyria,  past  civilization  of,  430. 

Astronom}':  on  trust,  33;  illustration 
of  atheism,  06.  67;  and  heaven,  73; 
illustrations  of  theism,  86,  93,  99; 
perturbations,  137;  law,  139;  illus- 
tration of  knowledge,  198;  errors, 
203;  Orion's  (q.  v.)  Belt,  238,  239; 
beaut}',  398,  399.  (See  Comet,  Stars, 
&c.) 

Atalauta's  Apple,  303. 


Athanasian  Creed :  retarding  progress, 
183 ;  rejected,  383. 

Athanasius,  views  of,  298. 

Atheism :  early  Christians  convicted 
of,  16;  speculative  (q.  v.).  58-111 
passiin;  foreknown,  102;  imphilo- 
sophical,  112.  136  ;  ni  Germany,  159; 
of  fops,  186;  want  of  faith  in  creative 
intelligence,  203  ;  in  Jesus'  time,  262. 

Atheists  :  falsely  so  called,  11 ;  few,  15 ; 
two  classes  of,  87  ;  pantheistic,  87 ; 
confounding  good  and  evil,  115;  not 
real,  199;  cold,  214;  so  called  for 
disbelief  of  legends,  301,  303,  335. 
(See  God.) 

Athena?um,  Boston,  picture  in  the,  411. 

Athens:  immoral  gods,  270,  271;  h}-- 
pothesis  of  Jesus'  presence,  306; 
light,  341.     (See  Greece.) 

Atoms:  divine  foreknowledge  and  ac- 
tion in,  93,  94;  no  fortuitous  action, 
106;  not  lost,  137;  law  of  relations, 
139,  140;  moral,  140;  full  of  God, 
241,  242. 

Attica,  prophets  in,  174. 

Attraction  :  law,  139, 140;  how  learned, 
142;  prevents  schism,  143,  144;  un- 
failing, 102;  two  divine  horses,  422. 

Augustine:  writings,  182,  184;  a  be- 
liever, 285;  strength,  376. 

Australian  Tribes,  without  religion,  18, 
19. 

Austria:  patriots,  76;  ruler,  76,  77; 
foreknown,  103. 

Authority  of  Jesus  (q.  v.),  268. 

Authors,  great,  328.     (See  Boolcs.) 

Autumn,  fire  in,  422.     (See  Sjmng.) 

Avarice,  wrongs  of,  230. 


T>  AAL :  sacrifices  to,  21 ;  no  god,  59 ; 

-^     defective,  119. 

Babbage's    Calculating    Machine,   88. 

(See  Mathematics.) 
Babes,  no  self-consciousness,  243.  (See 

Children.) 
Babj-lon:  voluptuaries,  15;  sins,  393. 
Bacchus,  festivals,  337. 
Bacon's  Philosophj',  274,  275. 
Balaam,  warned  back,  361. 
Ballads,    teaching  justice,  150.     (See 

Poetry.) 
Banbabv,  Dr.,  a  type,  402,  410,  411, 

414,  415. 
Bancroft,  Aaron,  liberal  views,  385. 
Baptism:   essential,  340;   penalty  for 

neglecting,  415. 
Baptists,  tlie,  317. 
Baxter,    Richard:    false    views,    183; 

severe,  378. 
Bayle,  Peter,  34. 


INDEX. 


441 


Beatitudes:  their  excellence,  182;  of 
nature,  184. 

Beauty  in  tlie  World  (q.  v.)  of  Matter 
(q.  v.):  sermon,  397-418;  the  vis- 
ion? ot  a  tired  girl,  397-401;  a  Sun- 
day at  the  old  homestead,  4U1-416; 
a  revelation,  41G ;  summed  up  in 
love,  41G;  miracles  (q.  v.)  not  so 
great,  416,  417;  everywhere,  417, 
418.  (See  Aiilmah,  Floivtis,  Fruit, 
Nature;  Trees,  &ic.) 

Beauty:  of  nature  and  inspiration,  .51; 
physical  soon  gone,  80;  material, 
106,  a  wing  of  matter,  109;  as  a 
moral  attraction,  185;  universal  idea, 
195;  new  images,  247;  seen  by 
Jesus,  273;  and  immortality,  350. 
(See  Spring.) 

Beaver  :  margin  of  oscillation,  99  ; 
natural  work  of  the,  211.  (See  Ani- 
mals.) 

Bee:  freedom,  99;  beautv,  405,  408, 
409,  427.     (See  Insects.) 

Beetiioven,  composition,  400.  (See 
.Music.) 

Beetle  :  providential,  130  ;  drowsy, 
377.     (See  Insects.) 

Behme,  Jacob,  his  mysticism,  370. 
(See  Biihme.) 

Being,  threefold,  240,  241. 

Belief:  savinir,  157;  made  a  dutv, 
330.     (See  t^iith.) 

Bennington,  Vt.,  Channing's  death, 
370,  394. 

Bentham,  .Jeremy,  ability,  -394. 

Bentlev,  William,  liberal  views,  385. 

Berkshire  Mills,  394. 

Berlin,  Prussia:  microscope,  238;  phi- 
losophy, 236. 

Berne,  Switzerland,  its  bears,  83. 

Berosus,  his  ideas  of  God,  64. 

Bethesda,  an  illustration  of  religion, 
180. 

Bil)le  :  master  of  reason,  40;  inspired, 
52  ;  idea  of  God's  presence,  92  ; 
Tounger  than  creation,  107 ;  in  both 
luiglands,  152;  professed  reverence 
for,  168,  169;  literary  gems,  181,  182; 
of  nature,  185,  416;  silence  about  the 
Essenes,  260;  made  the  onlv  source 
of  knowledge,  301,  .302;  not  infal- 
lible, 303,  304;  belief  outgrown,  300; 
doctrines  changed,  309  ;  true  use, 
309;  library,  310;  servant,  318, 
319;  faith  weakened,  323;  extract 
from  sermon,  326-342;  phenomenon, 
320;  illustrations  of  its  hold  on  the 
world,  326,  327;  some  adequate 
cause,  .327,  328;  helpful,  .328;  a 
miraculous  collection,  329;  peculiar 
criticism  demanded,  329,  3.30;  how 


the  supernatural  claim  can  be 
proved,  330,  331 ;  errors,  331 ;  hu- 
man origin,  331,  332;  internal  con- 
tradictions, 332;  infallibility  not  an 
early  belief,  332,  333;  a  compila- 
tion^ 333,  334;  chaff  and  wheat,  334, 
335;  other  sacred  books,  335;  belief 
in,  a  substitute  for  thought,  336; 
such  views  dangerous,  336,  337;  a 
right  view,  337,  338  ;  beauties  of  Old 
Testament  and  New  (q.  v.),  339,  340; 
abused  by  its  friends,  341;  man 
greater,  342;  flower  and  leaves,  407; 
Half,  408;  miracles,  429.430.  (See 
Epistles,  Genesis,  Gospels,  Inspira- 
tion, Paul,  &c.) 

Bigotry :  mistaken  for  piet}^  212 ; 
modern,  314. 

Birds  :  regular  action,  99 ;  illustrating 
criticism,  183;  natural  song,  211; 
in  Jesus'  teaching,  273,  284,  291; 
beauty,  405,  406,  409,  412,  414,  417 ; 
clothing,  421;  songs,  424;  in  spring, 
426.   (See  Animals,  Insects,  Nature.) 

Birth,  a  household  blessing,  247,  251, 
252. 

Blasphemy,  Jesus  accused  of,  60. 

Bliss,  ultimate.  91. 

Blood,  softens  the  Alpine  rock,  50. 

Blossoms,  from  love,  250.  (See  Flow- 
ers.) 

Bluebeard,  story  of,  teaching  justice, 
150. 

Boanerges,  170. 

Boat,  useful,  216. 

Bodily  Senses  (q.  y.) :  and  immortal- 
ity, 350;  closed,  357;  five  loopholes, 
362.     (See  Man.) 

Bodily  Wants,  supplied,  42,  43. 

Body:  a  tether  to  freedom,  123;  to  be 
enjoyed,  194;  result  of  ages,  237; 
"bloody  house,''  243;  renewed  of- 
ten, 354,  355. 

Biihme,  Jacob,  inspiration,  47,  49,  50. 
(See  Bell  me.) 

BoMness,  ruling  men,  374. 

Book  of  Life,  a  leaf  torn  out,  299. 

Books:  religious,  181-184,  377  ;  bless- 
ings, 254;  divine  authority  deter- 
mined, 3.30,  331.     (See  Literature.) 

Boston,  IMass.:  hypothetical  confla- 
gration, 74;  fugitives,  100-108;  com- 
missioners, 105  ;  schools,  169  ; 
Quakers,  219;  charity,  230;  minis- 
try to  poor  despised,  276,  277 ;  As- 
sociation of  Ministers,  286;  State 
House,  283;  wickedness.  352;  filthy 
cellars,  .304;  Mayhew,  383  ;  criti- 
cised, 391-393.  (See  Massachusetts, 
New  Em/land.) 

Botany,  of  a  continent,  175. 


442 


INDEX. 


Boys,  games  outgrown,  204,  205,  207. 

(See  Chililren,  Girls.) 
Brighton,  ISIass.,  view,  397. 
Brown,  Kev.  Mr.,  of  Coliasset,  383. 
Brown,  Thomas,  ability,  394. 
Bryant,  Kev.  Mr.,  of  (iuiuc3%  383. 
Br3'ant,    William   Cullen,  his  Water- 
fowl, 241.     (See  Poelry.) 
Bubbles,  of  state  and  nature,  141. 
Buchanan,  James,  presidency,  420. 
Buckminster,  Joseph  S.,  literary  com- 
fort, 182. 
Buddha:  sacrifices  to,  21;  and  Jesus, 

281 ;  a  blessing,  430. 
Buddhism:    books,   184;   saints,  210; 

strengthening,  223;  ancient  missions, 

229. 
Buffalo,    a    lasting    coat,    421.      (See 

Animals.) 
Bunyan,    John:    inspiration,    49,    50; 

ge'nis,  182;  martyrdom,  219;   light 

in  prison,  222. 
Burial   Service,   the   only  religion   of 

many  people,  286. 
Burleigh,  Lord,  his  nod,  99. 
Business:   an  educational  force,  168; 

religious,  254;   absorption   in,    402, 

403,  416. 
Butterflies,   like   flowers  (q.  v.),   406. 

(See  Animals,  Insects.) 
Byron,  Lord,  poetic  ability,  394. 
Byzantium  :  comet,  99  ;  foreknown,  102. 


P^SAES,  the,   inferior    to     Jesus, 

^^    281.     (SeeJ«/a(s.) 

Cain  :  allusions,  76,  83;  foreknown, 
99,  108,  111,  122;  justice  to,  155. 
(See  Abel.) 

Calamity,  inspiring  devotion,  6. 

Calchas,  inspired,  48. 

Calvinism,  the  Trinity,  169. 

Calvin,  John:  burning  Servetus,  00; 
mechanical  theologv,  121;  views  of 
Christ,  306;  black  print,  415  ;  allu- 
sion, 430. 

Cambridge,  Mass.:  telescope,  238  ; 
view,  .397. 

Camp,  discipline  of,  170. 

Canaanites,  providential,  134. 

Canon  of  Scripture  (q.  v.),  uncertain, 
333.     (See  Bible.) 

Capabilitv,  masculine  and  feminine, 
223. 

Capitalists,  alarmed,  156. 

Capital  Punishment,  considered  reli- 
gious, 208. 

Carpenter,  and  oak,  119. 

Carpet-factorv,  compared  with  nature, 
419,  420. 

Carthage,  218.     (See  Rome.) 


Cathedrals,  compared  with  nature 
(q.  v.),  400.  (See  Church-buildings.) 

Cattle,  410,  411.  {Hae  Animals,  Horses.) 

Caucasian  Kace,  foreknown,  101,  102, 
111,  134. 

Causality,  providential,  135,  136. 

Causation,  perfection  in,  90-92. 

Cause:  unity  of,  139;  of  all,  416,  418. 

Celtic  Tribes,  foreknown,  101,  102. 

Censors,  of  public  opinion,  257,  258. 

Centrifugal  Force,  422. 

Ceremonies:  absurd  religious,  33,  34; 
many,  295.     (See  Rites.) 

Chaise,  a  useful  vehicle,  216. 

Chaldea:  civilization,  82;  belief  in 
immortality,  343. 

Champollion,  the  archaeologist,  233. 

Chance:  an  atheistic  idea,  60,  73; 
nowhere,  86,  87. 

Channing,  William  Ellery:  gems,  182; 
pietv,  353;  Humble  (q.  v.)  Tribute 
to,  369-396. 

Character :  affected  by  circumstances, 
27;  affecting  inspiration  (q.  v.),  46, 
47;  and  reputation  (q.  v.),  164; 
three  factors,  164 ;  two  modes  of 
power,  216;  diversity,  317. 

Character  of  Jesus  (q.  v.):  extract, 
27.3-281;  intellectual,  273-275,  281; 
mature  youth,  274,  275;  not  a  mere 
pipe  for  God  to  play  on,  275,  279; 
liigher  source  of  power  than  intel- 
lect, 275,  276;  deeds  and  words, 
276 ;  trust  in  God,  277  ;  higher  than 
represented,  277,  280;  faking  the 
phice  of  old  gods,  277,  278;  imper- 
fect, 278;  breadth,  independence, 
and  manliness.  278,  279;  errors  of 
belief,  278,  279';  true  manhood,  279, 
280;  every-day  religion,  280;  causes 
of  success.  280,  281  ;  above  Chris- 
tendom, 281;  himself  a  prophecy, 
281 ;  highest  product,  281. 

Charity:  'may  be  injurious,  218;  of 
Jesus,  278;  as  a  virtue,  316;  less 
than  justice  (q.  v.),  431. 

Charlemagne:  providential,  134;  al- 
lusion, 153;  elements,  166,  167. 

Charles  River,  its  flow,  169,  170. 

Chastity,  how  taught,  172. 

Chemistry,  the  divine,  239. 

Childhood:  isolated  and  undevout,  16; 
growing  up  religious,  187;  helps, 
204 ;  plavthings  outgrown,  204-207 ; 
buds,  367;  dear,  377.  (See  Babes, 
Fatherhood,  God.) 

Children:  forsaken  and  foreknown, 
132;  deficient  in  justice,  145:  relig- 
ious experience,  246 ;  calling  names, 
322  ;  of  the  Welltodo  familj-,  403, 
404. 


INDEX. 


443 


Chimborazo,  175.     (See  Andes,  Moun- 
tains.) 
Chimney,  illustrating  bad  temper,  165. 
China,  general  providence  for,  125. 
Christ:  the  name,  317;  hidden  in  the 
heart,  318,  375;  inward,  342.     (See 
Jesus.) 
Christendom:    tyranny,   153;   injured 
by  adherence  to  tradition,  206,  207 ; 
slavery,  225;  blessed  b^-^  the  Bible, 
311. 
Christianity:  teaching  union  with  di- 
vine   nature,  47;  monotheism,  102; 
strength    from    it,    219,   222;    ante- 
dated bv  Buddhism,  229;  Transient 
(q.  V.)   and     Permanent,     289-325; 
not  Judaism,  332;  in  men  before  it 
was  in  a  book,   333;    not  the   sole 
teacher   of   immortalitv,    343;    dull 
books,  377,  378 ;    never  liberal  till 
now,  384,  385;  Channing's    views, 
386,  387.     (See  Relujion,  &:c.) 
Christians:  convicted  of  atheism,  16; 
inspiration  not  limited  to,   43;   the 
God-idea,  59,  00;  special  providence 
for,  125;  favoritism,  126;   average, 
170;  persecuted,  218,   219;  courage 
not  peculiar  to,  229;  early  view  of 
bodily  resurrection,  355. 
Christian:  the  name,  323;   Channing 

a  true,  393. 
Christian  Churches,  preaching  a  bad 

deity,  127. 
Christian  Civilization  (q.  v.),  82. 
Christian  Year,  287. 
Christmas:  a  worthy  observance,  285; 

evergreen,  426. 
Church,  the:   established  for  regula- 
tive   purposes,    33 ;     scepticism    a 
medicine   for,   35;    might    making 
right,  115;   piety  and  "morals,  157; 
slavery,    158;    without    right,    160; 
educational   force,  168;  developing 
ordinary   men,    170;    not  touching 
sins,  173;  greatevil  in.213  ;  against 
Jesus,    202;   din,  272;   early  forms, 
204;   one   channel  of  Christianity, 
300;  growing  liberal,  .383,  384.      " 
Churches:    outcry  against  reformers, 
172;      led     by    money,    173;    new 
ground  won,  173;  physicians  needed, 
174;  foppery,  186;   neglected,   2()!t; 
replacing    nature,    253;    partiality, 
283;    early,  and    the    Bible,    333; 
preaching" hell,  350;  new,  430. 
Churcli-buildnigs,  illustrations  of  pur- 
pose, 351,  352. 
Church-members:  robbers,  160;  com- 
pared to  oxen,  170. 
Churcli,  Frederick  Edwin,  his  Heart  of 
the  Andes,  411. 


Cicero:  scorn,  277;  quoted,  298.   (See 

Tulhj.) 
Cigars,  illustrating  marriage,  180. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  a  visit,  408. 
Circumstances,  a  human   tether,  123. 

(See  Cliaracter.) 
Cities:  built  by  religion,  20;  de- 
stroyed, 74;  "hindrance  to  divine 
communion,  253. 
Civilization:  indebted  to  religion,  20; 
through  the  God-idea,  58;  destruc- 
tion, 74,  75;  passing  away,  82; 
moral  and  intellectual,  146,  147 ; 
leaders,  160;  advantage  over  sav- 
agery, 225;  of  two  thousand  3-ears 
ago,  277 ;  immensely  advanced  by 
Jesus,  287,  202  ;  barbai'isms  of, 
311  ;  ahead  of  Christianity,  320  ; 
from  Chri.Ntianitv,  387;  advance  of, 
430. 
Clark,    Adam :    mistaken    argument, 

10;  strength  from  religion,  223. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  the  Bi- 
ble, 333. 
Clergymen,  anecdote,  175.    (See  Min- 
isters.) 
Clock,  illustration  of  knowledge,  99. 
Clouds:  vanishing,  209;  mistaken  for 
mountains,  320.     (See  Btauty,  Na- 
ture, Sky,  Sun.) 
Cohesion:  an  abiding  quality,  80;  law, 

139.     (See  Attraction.) 
Coleridge,  S.  T. :  his  piiilosophy,  239 ; 
his  ability,   394;   Ancient  Mariner, 
399. 
Cologne  Cathedral,  400. 
Come-outers,  in  Palestine,  260. 
Comet :  Halley's,  37  ;  bringing  terror, 

99.     (See  Astronomy,  Stars.) 
Comforter,  the  :  revealed,  321 ;  newest, 

341. 
Common  Sense,  instinctive,  122. 
Communion  with  God  (q.  v.):  sermon. 
236-255;  real,  236;  giving  and  re- 
ceiving, 236,  237;  scientific  conclu- 
sions, 237,  239  ;  idea  of  God  primary, 
237.  238;  the  world  a  revelation,  239; 
creation  a  communion,  240  ;  each 
receives  the  divine  spirit  after  its 
kind,  240,  241  ;  effect  of  divine 
■withdrawal,  241,  242;  involuntary 
communion  unavoidable,  242,  243: 
increased  or  diminished,  243-245 ; 
development,  246;  conscious  effort 
to  enlarge,  246.  247;  through  human 
experiences,  247;  nature  of  prayer, 
248;  ecstasy  not  constant,  249,  2.50; 
voluntary  communion  often  un- 
heeded, 251;  life's  trials,  251,  252  ; 
religions  a  search  for  communion, 
253 ;  helps,  253-255. 


444 


INDEX. 


Comte,  Anguste :  inconsistent  atheism 
(q.  v.),  34 ;  material  pantheism, 
87. 

Confucius:  his  inspiration  (q.  v.),  52; 
books,  184;  a  blessiiii;-,  430. 

Coiigreiss,  reports  of,  IG'J. 

Connecticut  iiiver,  fresliet,  124. 

Conscience :  sacrificed  to  supernatural- 
ism,  39;  teaching  God,  43;  truths 
learned,  46;  mediator  with  God,  52; 
and  justice  (q.  v.),  138-102  passim  ; 
no  college  for,  157;  more  than  wor- 
ship, 158;  name  for  moral  powers, 
194,  seeks  God's  ju.Uice,  19(j,  198, 
200,  201,  213;  not  ruled  by  passion, 
217;  courageous,  228;  place,  237; 
left  by  God,  242;  cultivated,  243; 
to  judge  Christianity,  316  ;  and  the 
Bible,  330;  remains'.  336,  337;  God's 
word  in,  342;  in  Channing,  375. 

Consciousness;  different  in  man  and 
God,  85,  86;  law,  140;  of  self,  210; 
fourfold  of  God,  244;  common  and 
higher,  248;  judgment  on  the  Bible, 
330;  and  immortality,  345-348;  in 
future  life,  350. 

Consci<ius  Ileligion  (q- v.)  as  a  Source 
of  Strength  (q.  v.):  sermon,  216- 
236;  two  modes  of  power,  210;  in- 
creases strength,  216  ;  no  pow-er 
should  be  wasted,  216,  217;  special 
modes,  217,  218;  trials,  218-225; 
instances,  218,  219;  spasmodic  hero- 
ism, 219,  220;  daily  heroism,  220, 
221;  religion  normal  in  man,  221, 
222;  bestows  botli  masculine  and 
feminine  capability,  223;  in  two 
ways,  223;  profit  from  religion  not 
outward,  224,  225  ;  counteracting 
selfishness,  225,  226;  the  only  pro- 
moter of  self-denial,  226,  227;  gives 
courage,  227-229;  illustrations,' 228. 
229  ;  energy  developed,  229,  230 ; 
self-reliance,  230,  231  ;  forms  of 
strength,  231,  232 ;  irreligion  dis- 
tanced by  religion,  232,  233;  a  bride 
loved  for  her  own  sake,  234;  trials 
essential,  234;  trust,  235. 

Consolation,  denied  bv  atheism  (q.  v.), 
72,  75. 

Convents,  formal  religion  of,  2.50,  252. 
(See  Asceticism,  Roman  Catholic 
Church.) 

Copernicus,  theories  changed,  296. 

Coral  Insects  (q.  v.),  illustrating  di- 
vine justice,  163.     (See  Sea.) 

Corn-husks,  179. 

Corn:  sacks,  181;  waving,  an  illustra- 
tion of  influence,  256;  a  Mississippi 
of  grain,  409,  410;  beauty,  428;  of 
humanity,  431. 


Councils,  Church:  on  Christ,  306;  not 
the  arbiters  of  religion  (q.  v.), 
308. 

Country,  compared  with  city  (q.  v.), 
253. 

Courage  :  from  religion,  227,  228 ;  real, 
227-229. 

Courts:  illustrating  free-will,  123; 
providence,  124.     (See  Law.) 

Cowardice,  engendered  by  atheism, 
72,  82. 

Cowper,  William,  quoted,  121. 

Crafts,  William  and  Ellen,  their 
troubles,  108,  111. 

Creation:  perfect,  90,  91;  hymn  of, 
337,  338.     (See  Genesis,  God.) 

Creditor  and  Debtor,  225. 

Credulity,  phantoms  of,  330.  (See 
Superstition.) 

Creeds:  published  by  authority,  33; 
hindrances,  183  ;  none  but  truth, 
342.     (See  Religion.) 

Criminals:  left  to  perish,  135;  purified 
by  death,  358.     (See  Sin.) 

Criticism:  illustrated  by  birds,  183; 
demands,  334,  335.     (See  lieason.) 

Cromwell,  Oliver:  specially  providen- 
tial, 134;  Ironsides,  229." 

Cross:  holy,  320;  worshipped,  336. 
(See  Jesus.) 

Culture  of  Religious  (q.  v.)  Powers: 
highest  product,  164;  all  desire  to  be 
religious,  164-106:  even  the  bad, 
165,  166;  ideal  religious  character, 
166-168;  means  of  attainment,  168; 
four  public  educational  forces  to  be 
partially  trusted,  168-170;  eminence 
must  come  from  outside,  169  et  seq.  ; 
one-sided  development,  170-173; 
wholeness  of  religion,  171,  172;  sen- 
timents and  ideas,  171,  172;  ecclesi- 
astical opposition  to  reformers,  172, 
173;  portions  of  religion  represented 
by  one  man,  173,  174;  seeds  of  in- 
spiration, 174,  176;  leaders  not  full}- 
understood,  175,  176;  .value  of  re- 
ligious genius,  176-178  ;  always 
needed,  178,  179;  dead  organiza- 
tions, 178,  179;  narrow  distribution 
of  labor,  179,  180;  living  water,  180, 
181;  teachers,  181;  books.  181-184; 
study  of  nature,  184,  185;  internal 
reliance,  185,  186;  superficial  prac- 
tical religion,  186;  a  great  hour, 
186,  187;  constant  element,  187; 
conformity  to  ideal,  187-189;  flre 
and  industry,  190  ;  daily  culture, 
190,  191;  help  from  errors',  191,192; 
hopes  and  fears,  192,  193. 

Custom,  a  serpent,  206. 

Cyprian,  his  church,  218. 


INDEX. 


445 


])AGUERREOTYrE,  in  words,  411. 
Dante,  his  fj^enius,  275. 

David:  inspiration,  47;  deeper  Psalms 
(q.  v.),  175;  lielpful  words,  2o4; 
pietv,  319;  curses,  334;  same  guide, 
337;  prayer,  338;  guilt.  339. 

Death-I)ed:  never  terrifying,  359;  this 
life  felt  to  be  insufficient,  305,  3G(J. 

Death:  the  end-all,  in  atheism,  70, 
74,  80;  and  immortality,  346;  an 
angel,  352 ;  Channing's,  395,  39G; 
best  observatory,  425;  a  blossom- 
ing, 432.  (See  t'uture  Life,  Immor- 
tctlity.) 

Decay,  apparent  exception  to  law, 
1.39".     (See  Growth.) 

Decency,  the  only  religion  of  manv, 
186.  " 

Deism,  as  distinguished  from  theism 
(q.  v.),  85. 

Deists :  English,  35,  36 ;  theory  of 
two  gods,  135. 

Deities,  called  demons,  60. 

Deity:  dead,  280;  of  Jesus  (q.  v.), 
305,  306.     (See  God.) 

Delhi,  India,  421. 

Delphic  Oracle,  52. 

Demosthenes,  his  oratory,  374. 

Dependence,  how  engendered,  7-9. 

Descartes:  works,  184,  331;  astron- 
omy (q.  v.),  296;  what  might  have 
been,  363. 

Desert,  illustrating  life,  177. 

Desire,  a  serpent,  266. 

Destruction,  impossible,  92. 

Deucalion,  37. 

Devil:  in  the  godhead,  61;  unreal, 
62;  still  believed,  119,  120;  insti- 
gating religions,  125;  disbelief  in, 
not  all,  260;  Jesus'  belief  in,  278. 

Devils,  or  deities,  60. 

Diamonds,  obedient  to  law,  139. 

Diana  of  the  Ephesians,  336. 

Disappointment:  bitter  root,  221; 
chill,  251;  universal,  252. 

Distribution  of  Labor,  ISO- 
Dives  and  Lazarus,  the  parable,  71. 

Divine  Afflatus,  52.   (See  Inspiration.) 

Doctrines:  preferred  to  practice,  172, 
173;  undue  stress,  294;  changed, 
295,  309 ;  of  the  fathers,  298,  299 ; 
hav  and  stubble,  290  ;  changing, 
318. 

Dorcas,  inspired,  47. 

Dotage,  of  evil-doers,  227. 

Drama  of  Morals.  235. 

Dreams:  proof  of  immortality  (q.  v.), 
357;  beauty  (q.  v.),  400,  401. 

Druids,  sacred  idea  of  the,  52. 

Drunkard,  family  of  the,  220-222. 
(See  Inteniperance.) 


Drunkenness:  evils,  75;  rebuked, 
173;  coniniendeil  in  Scripture,  340 

Dualism,  in  theolngy  (([.  v.),  135,  136. 

Duelling,  outgrowth  of  justice,  148. 

Dust,  no  grain  lost,  361. 

Dutch  Language,  169. 

Duties:  popular  practical,  168,  169; 
Christian,  316. 

Duty:  how  learned,  41;  involved  in 
right,  114;  sought,  210,  211. 


"PAGLE,   illustration  of  justice,  161, 
^     162.     (Sec  Birds.) 
Earnestness,  difference  in,  185,  18G. 
Earth,  forsaking  the  sun  (q.  v.),  360. 

(See  World.) 
Earthquake:     a    mere    crack,     139; 

waves,  244. 
Easter,  a  great  festival,  285,  287,  288. 

(See  Resurrection.) 
Ebionites,  the  sect,  318. 
Ecclesiastes:   allusion,  275;  "golden 

bowl,"  328. 
Ecclesiasticus,  text  from,  397. 
Echo  of  Jesus,  310. 
Economy  in  Nature,  109,  110. 
Eddystone  Lighthouse,  171. 
Eden:  in  nature,  400;  in  a  fish,  423; 

in  Nazareth,  432. 
Educational  Forces:  four,  108;  effect, 

169,  170. 
Education:  conferring  greater  power, 

147;   once   an   exohisive   privilege, 

159;    universal,     172;     Channing's 

service,  376,  388. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  false  views,  183, 

184. 
Egypt:  architecture  (q.  v.)  religiously 

inspired,  20;  darkness,  82,  84,  292"; 

foreknown,  102;  general  providence 

(q.  v.).  125;  Hebrew  sojourn,  134; 

intelligent   classes   governing,    147; 

hieroglyphics,   Moses    (q.  v.),  233; 

light,    341;    plague,    417;    civiliza- 
tion (q.  v.),  430. 
El,  a  divine  name,  64. 
Elections,  brawlers  at,  370. 
Electricity:    expression   of  law,  139; 

power, '219,  220;  errands,  224. 
Ellas;   fed,    177,    178;   made  a  hero, 

228;  risen  again,  266;  compared  to 

love,  400;  come  at  last,  425;  loncjed 

for,  and  near  God,  433.    (See  Elijah, 

Pro2)hets.) 
Elijah  the  Prophet,  3G9.     (See  Ellas, 

Prophets.) 
Eliot's  Bible  (q.  v.),  407. 
Elisha:    calling   and   inspiration,    49; 

rapid   triivel,    55  ;    te.xt,    369  ;    the 

bears,  414. 


446 


INDEX. 


Elm-tree  :  boughs,  40-3 ;  ripe,  424. 
(See  Trees.) 

Eloquence,  of  Channing  and  others, 
381,  393. 

Einerson,  Ralph  Waldo:  books,  184; 
helpful  words,  254;  "one  accent," 
432. 

Emmanuel,  a  new,  hailed,  426. 

Emmons,  Nathaniel,  his  doctrine,  121. 

Endless  Misery,  taught  in  New  Testa- 
ment, 115. 

Endurance,  common.  220. 

Energy,  concentrated  by  religion,  226. 

England:  deism,  35,  30;  factory-hands, 
76;  Hegelianism,  88;  foreknown, 
101,  102;  paradise  of  the  rich,  126 ; 
popular  poetry,  150;  Stuarts,  151, 
152;  needing  moral  guidance,  160; 
watch-factories,  179,  180;  poetry, 
181;  want  of  piety,  212;  Quakers, 
219;  brilliant  names,  228  ;  Puritanic 
braverv,  229;  (^hanning's  influ- 
ence, 371,  372,  386;  gifted  men, 
394.  (See  Amenca,  Europe,  Great 
Britain). 

English  Language,  Channing's  influ- 
ence co-extensive  with  the,  371. 

Environment:  affecting  character  (q. 
v.),  27;  a  tether,  123;  factor  in 
character,  164. 

Ephemera,  in  the  divine  care,  423, 
429.     (See  Insects.) 

Ephesus  :  Paul  there,  172  ;  church, 
218. 

Epicureans,  thinking  the  gods  lazy, 
113. 

Epistles :    representing  God  as  cruel, 

113,  114;  allusions  to  miracles,  303; 

if    struck    out,    307;    noble,     339. 

(See   Apostles,   Bible,   New    Testa- 

'  ment,  Paul.) 

Errors:  in  Bible  (q.  v.),  307;  possibil- 
ity denied,  329;  one  fatal,  329,  330; 
many,  331. 

Esau,  iiated  by  God,  13G. 

Esquimaux,  religious  emotions,  15. 

Essenes:  Bible  silent,  260;  ideas,  261; 
and  Jesus,  262;  scorn,  263;  Jesus 
not  for  them,  267;  belief  in  immor- 
tality, 355.     (See  Pharisees.) 

Eternal  Life,  the  nature  of,  368.  (See 
Immortality.) 

Eternal  ISIother,  housekeeping,  105. 
(See  Gild's  Motherhood.) 

Eternal  Torment:  believed  by  Jesus, 
278;  affecting  immortality,  349; 
moralh-  impossible,  358,  359.  (See 
Hell,  Immortnlity.) 

Ether,  providential  discovery,  101. 

Ethics:  learned  in  history,  198;  of 
Charming,  373.     (See  Moral.) 


Ethiopia,  divinely  foreknown,  101, 
102,  111. 

Euclid,  an  authority,  305. 

Europe:  monstrous  forms  of  religion, 
17,  18;-  sadness,  83;  ferment,  153; 
tottering  thrones,  156;  power  of  in- 
tellect, 157;  "down  with  riches," 
159;  filth,  311;  revival  of  nature, 
422.    (See  Km/land,  United  States.) 

Evangelists:  not  apprehending  Jesus, 
279;  not  claiming  infallibility,  304. 
(See  Apostles,  Gospels.) 

Eve,  in  Eden,  433.     (See  Adam.) 

Evergreen,  its  beauty  and  use,  426. 
(See  Christmas,  Trees.) 

Evil:  a  mvsterv,  108;  phenomena, 
112.     (See  ,9m.) 

Evolution  :  difficult  to  understand,  65; 
in  the  line  of  nature.  184;  rapid  in 
nature,  425.     (See  Nature.) 

Experience:  teaching  inspiration,  54, 
55;  confirming  the  sadness  of  his- 
tory, 81,  82;  as  a  teacher  in  physics 
and  morals,  142;  garnered  in  books, 
181;  religious,  186;  sudden,  187; 
from  error,  191,  192. 

Experiments,  in  piety,  203. 

Eye:  what  it  can  and  cannot  see,  194; 
its  mechanism  (q.  v.),  239;  made  for 
light  (q.  v.),  350. 


T^ACT,   distinguished    from    fiction, 

-*-      335. 

Factory,  run  by  water,  419.  420. 

Faculties:  differently  manifested,  17; 
of  spirit,  194,  203.     (See  Man.) 

Failures,  of  the  great  (q.  v.),  231. 

Faithfulness,  an  element  of  religious 
character,  166,  167. 

Faith:  of  Jesus,  268;  test  of  Christian- 
ity, 316.     (See  Trust.) 

Fairy  Tales,  compared  with  Bible  sto- 
ries (q.  v.),  332. 

Fanaticism,  errors  of,  335. 

Fatalists,  making  a  mechanical  uni- 
verse. 121. 

Fatherhood.     (See  God.) 

Fathers  of  the  Church,  340. 

F^nelon:  allusion.  32;  inspiration,  47; 
literary  help,  182,  184;  same  guide, 
337:  the  Feneioii  of  Protestants, 
376;  severe  views,  378. 

Fetichism :  divinely  foreknown,  102; 
wooden  god,  113'     (See  Idols.) 

Fetich,  the  Bible  (q.  v.)  made  a,  309. 

Feudalism,  of  the  past,  159. 

Fiction,  distinguished  fnun  fact,  335. 

Filmer,  Sir  Robert,  his  unpopular 
theories,  150. 

Fire-engine,  a  comparison,  408. 


INDEX. 


447 


Fishes:  how  clad,  421;  life,  422;  an 
Eden,  423;  nni!tii)lying,  424.  (See 
Animals,  Beiiiil;/.  Birds,  Nature.) 

Flood,  the:  allusion,  37;  miraculous, 
1.34;  from  anger,  41G. 

Flowers:  artiticial,  179;  ina  city,  185; 
illustration  of  unconscious  pietv, 
200,  201;  the  lilv,  202;  in  Jesus' 
teacliiiiff,  273,  281,  283,  2'Jl;  in 
suriiig, 352;  lovelier  each  year,  367; 
Clunining's  interest,  377;  beauty, 
404-41 8  /ws.'/m;  spring,  425,  427; 
a  prophecy,  426,  427;  children  of 
nature,  why  beautiful,  428.  (See 
Beauty,  Nature.) 

Flv:  nearness  to  Jesus,  320;  finding 
Its  Eden,  423.     (See  Insects.) 

FoUen,  Charles,  early  death,  390. 

Fops,  their  religion,  186. 

Forces  of  Nature  (q.  v.),  working  for 
man  (q,  v.),  224. 

Force :  the  antagonistic  power  above, 
80;  its  unity,  141.  (See  Attraction, 
Enerfjy.) 

Forgiveness:  regarded  as  a  public 
wrong,  148;  Christian  virtue,  316. 

Forms,  changing,  318.  (See  Ceremo- 
nies, Rites.) 

Foster,  John,  severe  views,  373. 

Fox,  George:  inspirati<ni,  47,  49,  50; 
persecuted,  219;  light,  222;  same 
guide,  3-37.     (See  Quakers.) 

France:  materialism,  35;  foreknown, 
103;  tyranny,  152,  153;  four  great 
statesmen,  154;  Academy  of  florals, 
157;  communism,  159;  lack  <jf  pietv, 
212,  213 ;  vine-clad  hills,  429.  (See 
Jiurojie.) 

Francis  the  Stupid,  reign  of,  76,  77. 

Freedom:  in  animals  (q.  v.)  and  men 
(q.  v.),  99,100;  banner,  385;  Chan- 
ning's  (q.  v.)  interest,  391.  (See 
Human.) 

Freeman,  James,  liberal  views,  383. 

Free  Speech,  affecting  the  Bible,  340. 

Free  Thinkers:  in  France,  303;  on  the 
Bible  (q.  v.),  341. 

Free-will:  made  impossible,  32;  abso- 
lute, 122,  123;  conditioned,  123. 

French  I'atriots,  76,  77. 

Friendship:  subordinate  to  justice, 
142;  its  ecstasy  brief,  249. 

Friends,  known  in  heaven  (q.  v.),  365. 
(See  Immortality.) 

Frivolity,  religion' of,  185,  186. 

Fruit:  lavish,  413,  414;  spring,  426; 
why  beautiful,  428.  (See  Animals, 
Beauty,  Flowers,  Trees.) 

Future  Life:  delusive  promise,  35; 
denied  l)y  atheism,  71-73,  110,  111. 
(See  f/enven.  Immortality.) 


(^ALILEE,  fishermen  of,  177.  (See 
Apostles,  Jesus.) 

Gamaliel  :  a  product  of  Jerusalem, 
169;  a  severe  teacher,  261. 

Gardeners,  industry  of,  190,  191. 
(See  Flowers,  Trees.) 

Garrison,  AVilliam  Lloyd,  the  opposi- 
tion to  him,  172. 

Gay,  Ebenezer,  of  Hingham,  383. 

Geist,  a  divine  name,  64.  69. 

Genesis  :  poetry,  301  ;  (|Uoted,  311  ; 
a  poem  of  Creation,  337,  338.  (See 
Bible.) 

Genius:  religious,  170,  171,  180;  the 
birth  of,  284. 

Genoa:  lighthouse,  171;  marbles,  400. 

Gentiles  :  inspiration,  45  ;  Court  of, 
58;  backward  in  the  God-idea,  59; 
scorned,  125;  no  separate  religion, 
334. 

Gentleness,  a  Christian  virtue,  310. 

Geology,  divine  communion  in,  244. 
(See  Science.) 

Geometry:  no  personal  authority, 
305;  axioms,  309.  {iice  Arithmetic, 
Mathematics.) 

Geiizim,  a  hoi}'  place,  53. 

German  Language,  native,  169. 

Germany:  patriots,  76;  philosophers, 
spiritual  pantheists,  87;  foreknown, 
101-103;  popular  poetry,  150;  athe- 
ism,159;  poetry, 181.    (See£'«ro/;e.) 

Gerson,  John:  inspired,  47;  view  of 
Jesus,  306. 

Ghosts,  believed,  339. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  his  scoffs,  35. 

Girlhood,  in  heaven,  356. 

Gluttony,  rebuked,  173. 

Gnostic  Theories,  .313. 

God  :  the  idea  developed,  8,  9;  inade- 
quate conception,  11-13;  afar  off  in 
supernaturali^m  (q.  v.),  40  ;  many 
names,  04;  an  actor,  119,  122;  the 
Me  and  Not-me,  242,  243 ;  Com- 
munion (q.  v.),  2-36-253;  the  best 
thing  known  worshipped  as,  270; 
voice,  336.     (See  Atheism,  Theism.) 

Godhead,  the  devil  a  part  of  the,  61. 

God's  Attributes:  perfect,  8:j ;  made 
defective,  116,  117;  desired,  244; 
learned  through  humanity,  247  ; 
finite  communion,  255. 

God's  Being,  iiitinite  activity,  239. 

God's  Causation  (q.  v.) :  perfect  in 
nature,  90-92,  102,  104;  unity.  96; 
wise,  101;  saving,  106;  inferences, 
112,  129. 

God's  Character  (q.  v.)  :  considered 
tyrannical,  21  ;  popular  idea,  85; 
cruelty  imputed  in  Bible,  113,  114; 
might  making  right,  115  ;  caprice, 


448 


INDEX. 


124;  variable,  128;  moral  spontane- 
ity, 14-1;  evil  qualities  as  believed 
by  Jesus,  278;  won  by  effort,  319; 
cruel,  332,  334;  all  good,  361;  as 
preached  by  Clianniiig,  382,  383; 
made  devilish,  414. 

God's  Creatorship:  of  nature,  29;  im- 
perfect, 32;  not  mechanical,  05; 
evil  motives  entirely  excluded,  91 ; 
all-knowing,  92,  93,  100;  considered 
momentary,  97  ;  responsible,  105  ; 
imperfect  motive,  110  ;  perfect,  129; 
pattern  of  justice,  142  ;  objectivity, 
237 ;  chemistry  and  eye,  239  ;  not 
exhausted,  319;  free  spectacle,  398; 
guest-chamber,  399  ;  handwriting, 
407  ;  prodigal  of  beauty,  413  ;  patent, 
430.     (See  Beauty.) 

God's  Existence:  called  a  hvpothesis, 
31;  undiscoverable,  37;  speculative 
(q.  V.)  atheism,  58-84:  called  a 
whim,  01,  73;  popularly  taught,  108; 
only  cosmic  force,201-203  ;  strength- 
ening belief,  223;  inconceivable  with- 
out something,  230;  not  dead,  283; 
arguments  for,  347,  348;  Great 
Overseer,  400,  407.     (See  Theism.) 

God's  Fatherhood  (q.  v.):  denied  by 
atheism,  73;  in  New  Testament, 
113,  114;  allusion,  167;  near  to 
Jesus,  317;  our  warrant  that  he  will 
not  deceive  us,  345,  350;  the  opinion 
of  the  worst  men,  359;  as  set  forth 
by  Channing,  37.5-377,  383,  380;  in 
flowers  (q.  v.),  407;  reverenced  for 
the  saints,  431 ;  in  a  prayer,  437. 

God's  Foreknowledge  (q.  v.),  perfec- 
tion, 93,  94,  98,  100,  129. 

God's  Goodness  (q.  v.),  made  to  in- 
clude a  devil,  119,  120. 

God's  Government:  not  despotic,  100; 
illustrations,  126,  127;  purpose  of 
martyrd(iu),  222. 

God's  Growth  (q.  v.),  as  a  theory, 
128. 

God's  Holiness  (q.  v.),  made  defective, 
116,  117. 

God's  Immanence  (q.  v):  denied,  36; 
constant,  37;  qualified,  40;  '"in  Him 
we  live,"  42  ;  through  reason,  43  ; 
unceasing,  56;  essential,  88;  in  mat- 
ter, 2:59. 

God's  Inlinity  (q.  v.):  illogically  in- 
ferred, 31,  32;  essential  to  imma- 
nence, 88;  not  doubted,  89;  binding 
him  to  provide,  114  ;  consequences, 
116  ;  idea  intuitive,  237. 

God's  Influence,  beautifying  nature 
(q.  v.),  51.     (See  Beauty.) 

God's  Inspiration  (q.  v  ),  from  obe- 
dience (q.  v.),  46. 


God's  Justice  (q.  v.):  deity  made  not 
amenable  to,  115;  limited  by  mercy, 
115;  made  imperfect,  116;  affecting 
immortality,  352,  353  ;  not  like 
man's,  359. 

God's  Knowledge,  constantly  improv- 
ing, 87,  88. 

God's  Law  (q.  v.),  obedience  the  es- 
sence of  religion,  25,  26. 

God's  Love  (q.  v. ):  perfect,  91;  con- 
sidered defective,  110,  117;  all- 
embracing,  428. 

God's  Mind  (q.  v.):  man  mindful  of, 
203  ;  inlinite  care,  423. 

God's  Motherhood  (q.  v.) :  teTiderness, 
135;  almost  feared  by  a  few.  155; 
allusion,  167;  inlinite  motherliness, 
247  ;  tender  breast,  255;  and  human, 
360,  301;  reverenced,  431;  Mary's 
story,  433;  in  prayer,  437.  (See 
Eternal.) 

God's  Motives,  perfect,  90-92. 

God's  Nature  (q.A*.):  as  becoming, 
but  not  being,  128 ;  manifested  to 
soul,  198,  199;  to  preserve  the  finite, 
236;  soul  of  all,  248.  251;  affecting 
immortality,  353,  356;  not  u  jailer 
or  hangman,  but  shepherd  and  phy- 
sician, 359  ;  a  wrathful  king,  383. 

God's  Omniaction,  43. 

God's  Omnipotence,  siding  with  right, 
40. 

God's  Omnipresence :  allusions,  43,  48, 
49;  needing  no  mediator,  44;  seen 
bv  men,  53,  54;  not  laid  aside,  56; 
in  space  and  time,  238. 

God's  Perfection  (q.  v.):  everywhere, 
90;  elements,  91;  involving  rights 
of  the  created,  94,  95;  ultimate  con- 
sequences, 100, 104;  inferences,  116, 
117,  129. 

God's  Personality:  finite,  34;  made 
visible  bv  supernaturalism  (q.  v.), 
37;  living,  279;  authority,  305,  306. 

God's  Presence,  in  creation  (q.  v.), 
100. 

God's  Providence  (q.  V.) :  in  general, 
92-94;  details,  95;  sole  arbitrator, 
90;  continuous,  97,  98;  wise,  101, 
102;  perfect  (q.  v.),  104;  and  saving, 
106;  sermon,  112-137;  little  ar.d 
great,  141. 

God's  Spirit  (q.  v.),  in  man,  through 
love,  44. 

God's  Thoughts  (q.  v.),  as  including 
everything,  107.     (See  il/mt/.) 

God's "  Will  (q.  v.):  primary,  not 
secondarj',  139;  controlling,  216. 

God's  Wisdom,  increasing,  36,  37. 

God's  Work:  warranted,  105;  pattern 
of  justice,  142. 


INDEX. 


449 


Gods,  turned  out  of  heaven  by  Jesus, 
278. 

Golden  Age,  allusion  to  the,  150. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  quoted,  101. 

Good  and  Evil:  confounded  in  natu- 
ralism (q.  v.),  32,  33,  115;  and  in 
supernaturalism,  37. 

Good  Men,  specially  providential,  134, 
135. 

Goodness :  and  piety,  194 ;  of  a  boy, 
209;  negative  and  positive,  3lil, 
362;  in  Channing,  387;  causal,  410. 

Good  Samaritan  :  parable  of,  195;  a 
model  of  religion,  270;  the  story  a 
condemnation,  283. 

Gospel,  annihilates  law,  332. 

Gospels:  making  God  cruel,  113,  114; 
the  first  three  quickening,  182:  por- 
trayal of  Jesus  (q .  V. ),  274 ;  below  his 
mark,  277,  279;  best  part  of  church 
service,  334 ;  record  of  prodigies, 
340;  literature,  Channing's  sj-mpa- 
thy,  379.     (See  Apustlts) 

Goths,  providential  work,  133. 

Government,  former  functions,  156. 

Grace,  falling  from,  250. 

Granite,  institutions  like,  256,  258. 

Gravitation:  an  abiding  principle,  80; 
illustrating  moral  law,  138;  towards 
right,  142. 

Gray's  Elegy,  quoted,  364. 

Great  Bear:  illustration  of  superiority 
of  divine  knowledge,  80 ;  noted,  399. 
(See  Astronomy,  Stars.) 

Great  Britain:  providential,  134;  in- 
tellectual power,  147;  will  perish, 
430.     (See  En/jland.) 

Great  Men:  sjiecially  providential, 
134;  tested,  154;  in  religion,  210; 
characteristics,  232;  influential,  256 ; 
two  classes,  256-258;  revolutionary, 
258;  not  copies,  259 ;  measured  with 
Jesus,  312. 

Greatness,  a  torment,  154. 

Great  Spirit,  not  feared,  359.  (See 
Indian.'!.) 

Greece,  Ancient:  spirit  of  beauty,  18; 
architecture  inspired  by  religion,  20; 
inspiration,  53  ;  civilization,  82  ; 
idea  of  God,  89;  foreknown,  102; 
providential,  125  ;  poetry,  181  ; 
sculpture,  189;  gods,  270,  277, 
337;  literature,  326;  song,  338;  no 
priesthood,  359  :  civilization  past, 
430.     (See  Athens,  Phidias.) 

Greece,  Modern,  prostrated,  78. 

Greeks:  ancient,  not  tlieists,  59;  be- 
lief in  immortality,  342,  359. 

Grief,  best  observatorv  of  heaven, 
425. 

Grisi,  Giulia,  her  singing,  400. 


Growth:  an  exception  to  law,  139:  in 

future    life,    350,    302,    303.      (,Sce 

Decay,  God's  Growth.) 
Grubs,  providential,  133.  (See  Beetles, 

Insects.) 
Gunpowder,  an  illustration,  69. 
Gunter's  Chain,  measure  of  iufinitv, 

95,  96. 
Gymnastics,  moral,  34. 


TTABAKKUK  :  inspiration  of,  48  ; 
providential  man,  132.  {SeeOld 
Testament,  Prophets.) 

Hand,  a  divine  work,  241.  (See  Body.) 

Haynau,  Baron,  cruelly,  77. 

Heart:  holiest  ground,  54;  affection- 
ate qualities,  194  ;  survives  idolatry, 
3-37.     (See  Man.) 

Heaven :  divine  name,  64 ;  invisible, 
73;  arch  of  love,  255;  made  un- 
happy by  discontent,  349  ;  growth. 
302,  303;  joys,  308;  a  mother,  417. 
(See  Future,  Immortality.) 

Hebrews:  God-idea,  59,  00;  civiliza- 
tion, 82;  monotheism,  102;  dark 
ideas,  120;  speciallv  providential, 
124,  125,  133,  134;  books,  184: 
clinging  to  the  past,  200;  "three 
holy  children,"  222  ;  religious 
strength, 223 ;  courage, 229 ;  escape  by 
Red  Sea.  283;  devotional  hymns, 33S; 
pietv,  379.     (See  Israelites,  Jews.) 

Hegei;  G.  W.  F. :  fatal  error,  88; 
philosophy,  237  ;  admiration  for.  281. 

Hell,  duration  of,  350.  (See  Eternal 
Torment. ) 

Herbert,  George,  literary  gems,  182. 

Herb  of  Grace,  an  illustration  of  truth, 
174. 

Hercules:  and  Jesus,  281;  legends, 
303;  Pillars,  310;  festival,  337. 

Herod:  allusion,  225;  against  Jesus, 
272;  pomp,  282;  senate,  287. 

Heroism,  how  mate,  219,  220. 

Hesiod's  Cosmogony,  326. 

Hickock's  Philosophy,  237. 

Hindoos:  dark  ideas  of  God,  120; 
images,  417.     (See  India.) 

History :  proving  religion  universal, 
14,  15;  illustration  of  human  devel- 
opment, 17;  religious  lessons,  21; 
record  of  confusion  if  godless,  81; 
not  a  surprise  to  (Jod,  98,  101,  102; 
compared  to  a  river,  111;  foreso' n 
in  human  nature,  132;  imperfection 
of  mankind.  142,  143;  sowing  and 
reaping,  160;  teaching  ethics,  198; 
full  of  piety,  203  ;  Jesus  a,  281  ; 
Bible,  332  ;  distinguished  from 
iin'thulog\-,    335. 


29 


450 


INDEX. 


Hobbes,  Thomas :  materialism,  35, 
36;  unpopular  ideas,  150;  no  heart, 
175. 

Holbach,  Baron,  mechanical  universe, 
121. 

Holland,  schools,  169. 

Holy  Alliance,  225. 

Holy  Ghost:  text,  236;  grieved,  250. 

Holy  Spirit,  in  the  heart,  318. 

Homer:  tales  of  justice,  150;  gift  of 
song,  253 ;  and  the  Bible,  328.  (See 
Gr<;ece.) 

Homestead,  visit  to,  401-416. 

Hoiiestv,  dependent  on  religion  (q.  v.), 
224,  225. 

Honey,  from  dregs,  221.     (See  Bees.) 

Hoplini,  providential  work,  133. 

Ho])kins,  Samuel:  doctrines,  131; 
Channing's  teacher,  393. 

Hornets,  beauty  of  nests,  406,  407. 
(See  Insects.) 

Housatonic  Valley,  394.  (See  Chan- 
ninrj.) 

Human  Beings,  variety  of,  141.  (See 
Man.) 

Human  Freedom  (q.  v.),  as  affecting 
theism,  99,  100. 

Human  Historv  (q.  v.),  foreordained, 
107. 

Human  Institutions  (q.v.) :  their  source, 
1;  moulded  by  the  God-idea,  58. 

Humanity,  teaching  intinit}',  247. 

Human  Life  (q.  v.),  made  chaotic  by 
atheism  (q.  v.),  69-74. 

Human  Nature  (q.  v.) :  as  everywhere 
the  same,  14 ;  marble,  81 ;  divine 
cause,  97;  instincts,  112;  factor  in 
character,  164. 

Human  Races,  divinelv  foreknown, 
101-104.     (See  Nations.) 

Human  liight  (q.  v.):  to  God's  provi- 
dence, 106  ;  to  divine  justice,  144, 145. 

Human  Spirit,  four  classes  of  facul- 
ties, 194,  198. 

Human  Will:  allied  to  God's,  216; 
place,  237. 

Humble  Tribute  to  Channing  (q.  v.): 
unworthy  of  the  theme,  369;  biog- 
raphy, 369,  370  ;  great  influence, 
writings,  370;  unsectarianism,  371; 
power  at  home  and  abroad,  371, 
372;  secret  of  that  power,  372,  373, 
originality,  373;  imagination,  373, 
374  ;  practical  aflPairs  and  moral 
power,  374;  fidelity,  374,  .375;  tim- 
idity and  other  traits,  375 ;  pietv, 
37.5-377  ;  confidence  in  God,  377 ; 
making  religion  beautiful,  377,  378, 
cheerfulness,  378;  affection.  378- 
380;  self-discq-iliue,  380,  381;  sources 
of  influence,  381,  382;  annoyances, 


and  special  work  of  reform,  382, 
383;  theological  tyranny,  383,  384; 
liberal  Christianity,  384,  385,  391; 
coadjutors,  385;  battles  tor  freedom, 
385,  386  ;  views  of  Christianity,  386, 
387 ;  social  elevation,  387,  388,  390, 
391;  temperance,  388;  slavery,  388, 
•  390  ;  letter  quoted,  392  ;  integrity, 
392,  393  ;  early  training,  393  ;  list- 
ening to  nature,  393,  394  ;  loyalty, 
394 ;  death,  394-396  ;  peroration, 
396. 

Humboldt,  great  mind  of,  83. 

Hume's  Scepticism  (q.  v.),  35,  36. 

Humility,  a  Christian  virtue,  316. 

Hungary:  patriots, 76;  foreknown, 103. 

Hunkers:  successful,  70;  illustration 
of  God,  136,  137;  dotage,  227. 

Husbandman,  after  new  plants,  176. 
(See  Flowers,  Trees.) 

Huss,  John :  martyrdom,  50 ;  divinely 
foreknown,  105. 

Hymns,  helpful,  182. 

Hypocrisy:  no  foundation  for  a  re- 
ligion, 3 ;  confounded  with  piety, 
212;  poor  substitute,  287;  hated  by 
prophets,  338. 

Hyssop,  its  lesson,  432. 


ICONOCLASTS,  modern,  175.    (See 

•^     Idols.) 

Ideal,  of  a  religious  man,  185-189. 

Ideas,  of  religion,  171. 

Idiots,  in  Sparta,  135. 

Idolatrj^:  Christian,  21;  among  sav- 
ages, 23;  Christians  convicted  of, 
173;  in  Jerusalem,  174;  of  Bible, 
303,  311,  312,  336  ;  would  seem 
strange  to  Scriptural  writers,  304; 
in  Boston,  393. 

Idols:  Paul's  disregard,  59,  60;  of  this 
age,  315;  of  a  tribe,  371.  (SeeFetich.) 

Ignatius:  persecuted,  218;  Scriptural 
canon,  333.     (See  Fathers.) 

Ignorance:  the  mother  of  devotion, 
160;  arises  from  sloth,  190;  phan- 
toms, 336.     (See  Educulion.) 

Iliad,  indestructible,  341.  (See  Greece, 
Homer.) 

Imagination:  a  religious  force,  189; 
in  mind,  194;  Channing's,  373,374. 

Immortality:  denied  by  naturalism, 
32;  of  fear,  81;  Parker's  grounded 
belief,  84;  terrible  guise,  155;  pop- 
ularly taught,  168,  169.  (See  Fw- 
ture  Life,  Heaven.) 

Immortal  Life  (q.  v  ) :  sermon,  343- 
368;  general  belief,  343;  origin  of 
this  belief,  343;  not  reached  by 
reasoning,  343,  344,  346,  347;  fact 


INDEX. 


451 


of  man's  nature,  344,  345;  no  argu- 
ments needetl,  345,  34G;  doubted, 
34(j,  353;  many  things  not  to  be 
proved,  347  ;  sense  inborn,  yet  argu- 
ments not  witliout  value,  348  ;  ideas 
of  mankind,  348-350;  endless  hell  a 
cnise  to  the  hope,  349,  350;  nature 
of  soul,  350;  universal  desire,  350; 
spiritual  entity,  350,  351;  natural 
maturity  and  decay,  351;  ripeness 
and  con'ipletion,  ^ibl,  352;  argument 
from  injustice,  352,  353;  God's  na- 
ture, 353;  combined  arguments,  354 ; 
special  forms  of  belief,  354 ;  bodily 
resurrection,  354,  355;  nature  of 
future  life,  356 ;  must  be  conscious, 
356;  social,  356,  357;  particulars 
unknown,  357 ;  only  self  with  us, 
357 ;  retribution,  357-359 ;  vengeance 
impossible,  359,  360;  death  rarely 
feared,  359;  rescue,  360,  361;  suf- 
fering follows  sin,  but  love  follows 
both,  361;  entrance  and  progress, 
362,  363 ;  can  heaven  see  earth,  363 ; 
development,  364;  memory,  364, 
365;  recognition,  365;  forgotten  in 
joy,  remembered  in  trouble,  365,  366 ; 
beauty  of  present  and  future,  367, 
368. 

Imperfection  :  in  all,  234  ;  an  argu- 
ment for  immortality,  352.  (See 
Perftcdon.) 

Imprecations,  in  Bible,  332,  334. 

Independence,  Channing's,  380. 

Indestructibility,  of  religion,  19. 

India:  inspiration,  53;  foreknown, 
102;  providential,  125. 

Indians:  sick  babe,  96;  children,  358; 
Great  Spirit  not  feared,  359;  trust, 
360,  361;  ill-treated,  372;  Bible,  407. 

Indolence,  spiritual,  335,  330. 

Induction:  religious  argument  from, 
7;  Jesus  not  reasoning  from,  274, 
275.     (See  Intuition.) 

IndusWy,  essential,  190,  191. 

Infallibilitv:  claimed  for  the  Bible 
(q.  v.),  303,  329,  330;  but  not  by 
authors,  304;  broken  bv  one  error, 
330,  331. 

Infancy,  never  resumed,  205.  (See 
Childhood.) 

Infidelity,  accusation  of,  301,  335. 
(See  Atheism.) 

Infinity,  a  dream,  34.     (See  God.) 

Iniquity,  often  prosperous,  161. 

Injustice,  everywhere,  252. 

Inquiry,  not  to  be  feared,  386. 

Inquisition:  concealing  good  inten- 
tions, 165;  persecuting,  218. 

Insects:  margin  of  freedom,  99;  cara- 
vansary, 119;    New  England,  120; 


wing,  238;  study  of  God,  240-242; 
lessons,  377 ;  beauty,  405-409  pus- 
sim,  417;  under  the  microscope, 
419.     (See  Bee,  Butterfly,  &c.) 

Insecurity,  under  atheism,  75. 

Inspiration :  a  figure  of  speech,  34, 
35;  no  miracle,  43;  always  one,  defi- 
nition, 44;  two  conditions,  45,  46; 
same  everywhere,  45 ;  in  fools,  wise 
men,  poets,  46:  dependent  on  char- 
acter, 46;  different  purposes,  47; 
does  not  fetter  the  mind,  48; 
strengthening  manhood.  49 ;  lead- 
ing to  martyrdom,  50;  beauty,  51; 
in  great  leaders,  52 ;  unlimited,  53, 
54;  hours,  55;  shadowy  remem- 
brance, 55, 56;  in  infancy,  56;  from 
all  truth,  181;  in  every  age,  254, 
255;  of  Bible  (q.  v.)  assimied,  301, 
329,  332,  333;  miraculous,  302,  303; 
opinions  changed,  307 ;  power  of 
belief  in,  332,  333. 

Instability,  everywhere,  75. 

Instinct,  aided  bV  reflection,  201. 

Institutions:  not  democratic,  147; 
long-lived,  232;  founded  on  Bible, 
328.     (See  Humun.) 

Intellect  :  truth  given  for  the,  255;  of 
Jesus,  274,  275,  282. 

Intellectuality  :  selfish  use  of,  147  ; 
America  and  Europe,  157;  a  part  of 
piety,  194-196,  200,  213.  (See  Books, 
Literuture.) 

Intemperance:  how  legalized,  75,  83; 
Channing's  interest,  388;  mischief, 
413.  (See  Drunkenness,  Tenijjer- 
nnce.) 

Intuition :  essential,  5-13  passim ;  tac- 
itly admitted  in  New  England,  41, 
42;  needs  no  experience  in  morals, 
142,  143  ;  of  Jesus,  274,  275  :  of 
God  and  immortality,  346-348. 
(See  Induction.) 

Inventions,  effect  on  human  history 
(q.  v.),  69. 

Inventors,  rare  in  religion,  181. 

Ireland:  groans  of,  76,  77,  160;  fore- 
known, 103.     (See  /England.) 

Irenwus,  persecuted,  218.  (See 
Fathers.) 

Isaiah:  ability,  275;  the  world  of,  317; 
belief  in  ghosts,  339;  a  blessing, 
430.  (See  Inspiration,  Old  Testa- 
ment, Prophets.) 

Israel :  forsaken,  83 ;  living  prophets, 
174. 

Israelites,  story  of  the  shoes,  421. 
(See  Hebrews,  Jews.) 

Italy :  patriots,  76,  78 ;  revolution,  101, 
103  ;  poetry,  181  ;  vine-clad  hills, 
429  ;  asking  for  admission,  430. 


452 


INDEX. 


"lACOB:  allusion,  133;  divine  favor- 

ite,  136:  and  Jesus,  181;  ladder, 

198,  432.  (See  Jews,  Old  Testament.) 

James  the  Apostle  (q.  v.):  faults, 
270;  Epistle  (q.  v.),  quoted,  281. 
(See  New  Testament.) 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  trembling  over 
slavery  (q.  v.),  151. 

Jeffries,  Judge:  cruelty,  77;  fall,  149. 

Jehovah :  sacrifices  to,  21 ;  name,  59, 
69;  called  a  devil,  CO;  defective, 
117;  wicked,  270;  Jesus  higher, 
277;  throne  lost,  278;  and  Jesus, 
281;  jealous,  333.     (See  Gud.) 

Jeremiah:  timidity,  49;  heroism,  228; 
raised  from  the  dead,  260;  indorses 
fighting,  340.  (See  Old  Testament, 
Projihets.) 

Jerome  of  Prague,  inspiration,  50. 

Jerusalem :  sacred,  54;  educational 
forces,  159;  idolatry,  174;  magis- 
trates, 177;  theological  students, 
263;  low  views  of  God,  270;  Asso- 
ciation, 270;  able  men,  282;  Jesus' 
presence,  300.     (See  Judea.) 

Jesuits,  intellectual  power,  147. 

Jesus:  relation  (q.  v.)  to  his  age,  256- 
272;  deification,  270,  271;  apostro- 
phe to,  390.     (See  Christ.) 

Jesus'  Advent,  increasing  God's  (q.v.) 
knowledge,  87. 

Jesus'  Career:  divinely  foreknown, 
105;  specially  providential,  126, 
128,  135:  miVaculous  birth,  127; 
misunderstood,  154,  155 ;  wor- 
shipped, 155;  not  apprehended,  175; 
greater  than  .lacob,  181;  era,  229; 
the  great  philanthropist,  230;  name 
lives  forever,  233;  all  before  him 
condemned,  333;  the  historical  Jesus 
less  than  the  inward  Christ,  342; 
titles,  401;  come  at  last,  425;  classi- 
fied with  other  saints,  430;  doing 
God's  work,  433. 

Jesus'  Character  (q.  v.):  considered 
fanatical,  34,  35;  faithfulness,  57; 
severe  but  forgiving,  176 ;  fidelit_y, 
195;  communion  with  God,  244; 
self-sacrifice,  312,  313;  filled  from 
the  same  fountsin,  341;  refusing  to 
be  called  good,  351;  may  be  sur- 
passed in  eternity,  305  ;  lovely, 
386. 

Jesus'  Inspiration  (q.  v.):  of  religious 

genius,  43;  not  a  monopoly,  53. 
Jesus'  Life:  temptation,  49,  244;  cru- 
cifixion, 50  ;  cup,  71  ;  crown  of 
thorns,  76,  77  ;  trade  and  swine, 
174  ;  from  Galilee,  180  ;  bloody 
sweat,  222;  mission  (q.v.),  282- 
288;  natural  birth,  304,  305;  spirit 


inculcated,  393;  anecdote  of  child- 
hood, 432,  433.  (See  Relation.) 
Jesus'  Nature :  considered  not  a  type, 
but  a  miracle,  39;  not  a  product  of 
Jerusalem,  169;  manly  greatness, 
253;  greater  than  the  Temple,  255; 
placed  on  a  par  with  Hercules,  303; 
conflicting  theological  views,  304; 
changiug  opinions,  305;  divine  side, 
305;  human  side,  300;  reality,  311; 
Gnostic  view,  313. 
Jesus'  Teachings:  true  per  sc,  or  by 
authority,  39;  accused  of  blasphemy, 
60;  the'sparorw's  fall,  85,  97,  111; 
parables,  175,  182;  Hebrew  element, 
beatitudes,  182;  "Come  unto  me," 
184:  from  nature,  184,  185;  sus- 
taining words,  254;  permanency  of 
thoughts,  290;  mission  (q.  v.),  282- 
288;  their  loss,  a  leaf  torn  from 
historic  life,  299;  music  of  htaven, 
310.  319;  unchangeable,  318;  deep 
words,  339;  bodily  resurrection,  (q. 
y.),  355;  promise  to  the  thief,  358; 
higher  ideas  attainable  in  heaven, 
363;  the  depraved  entering  the 
kingdom  first,  304;  in  (Jhanning 
and  the  gospels  (q.  y.),  379. 

Jews:  religion  varying  in  mind,  24; 
only  recipients  of  revelation,  38; 
inspiration  not  limited  to,  43,  45; 
great  souls,  210;  Jesus  not  alone 
for  them,  207;  divine  favorites,  276; 
historic  fables,  301 ;  no  separate  re- 
ligion, 334;  immortality,  343.  (See 
Hebrews,  Is7-aeUtes.) 

Job  :  Book  of,  275 ;  a  gentleman, 
276. 

Joel,  Book  of,  quoted,  321. 

John  the  Apostle  (q.  v.):  youthful 
ideas,  28;  inspiration,  38;  in  Jeru- 
salem, 177  ;  helpful  M'ords,  254, 
255 :  faults,  270 ;  an  echo  of  Jesus, 
310;  the  same  guide,  337  ;  mystic, 
339;  compared  with  Channing,  376. 

John  the  Baptist:  his  inspiration,  47; 
martyrdom,  50;  doubtful  about  Je- 
sus, 262;  greatness  of,  302,  333;  a 
smaller  forerunner,  426. 

John's  Gospel :  differences,  303  ;  view 
of  Jesus,  306 ;  end  spurious,  307. 

John  XXni  ,  perjured,  105. 

Jonah,  fallibility  of,  48.  (See  Proph- 
ets.) 

Jordan  River,  hillsides,  175. 

Joseph's  Coat,  421,  428. 

Josephus,  on  the  Essenes,  200. 

Journey,  utility  of  a,  210,  217. 

Jove:  "all-judging,"  233;  character, 
270;  incarnations,  270;  language, 
338.     (See  God.) 


INDEX. 


453 


Joy:  inspiring  devotion,  6;  nothin":, 
70;  hours,  191;  new  generation, 
248:  iinlooked  for,  251. 

Judaism:  niartjTs,  154;  element  of 
religion,  2iy";  not  Christianity, 
332. 

Judas  Iscariot:  his  bribe,  83;  fore- 
known, 105;  providential,  12(); 
false,  195;  divine  communion,  244. 
(See  Apostles.) 

Judea:  foreknown,  102;  three  parties, 
259  et  seq. ;  light,  341;  civilization 
past,  430. 

Judgment  Dav,  believed  in  bv  Jesus, 
278.     (See  'Future. ) 

Juggernaut,  justice  illustrated,  IGl. 

Julius  Cwsar  (q.  v.):  enforced  humil- 
ity, 6;  failure,  231;  consulate,  298. 

Jumble,  made  bv  atheism  (q.  v.),  C8, 
09. 

Jupiter:  called  a  demon,  60;  defec- 
tive, 117 ;  morals.  277 ;  image  from, 
336.     (See  God,  Tlieism.) 

Justice:  eminent,  172;  sought  by  con- 
science. 196 ;  for  its  own  sake,  200, 
201,210;  less  power  if  piety  lack- 
ing, 202;  always  powerful,  223; 
long-lived,  232;  greater  than  char-, 
ity,  431. 

Justice  (q.  v.)  and  the  Conscience 
(q.  v.):  sermon,  138-163;  introduc- 
tion, 138-140;  the  gravitation  of  the 
moral  system,  140-142;  attraction 
compared  to  the  moral  faculty,  142- 
144;  instinctive  delight,  143;  moral 
temperance  in  society,  144;  between 
men  and  God,  144,  145;  naturally 
loved,  145,  146;  conscientious  loy- 
alty to,  begins  early,  146,  147;  truth 
less  loved,  146;  intellectual  suprem- 
acy, 147;  the  state  an  attempt  to 
organize  justice,  147,  148;  rude 
manifestations,  148,  149;  laws 
amended,  149;  poetic,  149,  150; 
an  ideal  better  than  enactments, 
150,  151 ;  infinite  in  God,  151 ;  illus- 
trative axioms,  151;  progressive 
triumph  of  right,  151-153;  deferred, 
153,  154;  misunderstood,  154,  155; 
not  always  done,  155;  great  expan- 
sion of,  156;  cultivation  neglected, 
156-161;  here  and  abroad,  157;  edu- 
cation by  church  and  state,  157- 
160;  alarming  consequences,  158, 
159  ;  a  monopoly  of  power,  159, 
160;  scorned,  160;  successful  wrong, 
160,  161;  awful  redress,  161,  162; 
cannot  fail,  162  ;  human  means, 
163. 

Justin:  inspiration,  50;  persecuted, 
218;  canon  of  Scripture,  333. 


T/'ANT,  IMMANUEL:  works,  184; 

-"-     phiiosoph}',  2-39;  ability,  281. 

Kidnappers,  interested  in  religion, 
166. 

King,  divine  name,  113,  114.  (See 
God.) 

Kings,  Books  of,  quoted,  369. 

Kings,  supremacy  of,  75,  83. 

Kirkland,  John  Thornton,  his  liberal 
views,  385. 

Kitchen  Garden,  described,  407,  408. 

Knowledge  of  God  (q.  v.),  indispensa- 
ble to  religion,  41. 

Knox,  John,  176. 

Koran:  inspired,  330,  335;  human, 
331.     (See  Bible,  Inspiration.) 

Kosciusko,  patriotism  of,  78. 

Kossuth,  Louis,  defeated,  76,  77. 


T  AMPS :  illustrating  practical  re- 
ligion,  170,  171;  illustrating 
truth,  341,  342.     (See  Li;jht.) 

Laplace:  allusion,  33;  stud}'  of  ori- 
gins, 65;  increasing  God's  knowl- 
edge, 87;  works,  184;  ability,  281. 
(See  Astronomy,  Stars.) 

Latimer,  persecuted,  222. 

Law:  generalization,  30;  embodiment 
of  justice  (q.  v.),  148. 

Law  of  Mind,  42,  138.     (See  flatter.) 

Law  of  Moses  (q.  v.),  destroyed  bj'  the 
Gospel  (q.  v.),  332. 

Laws,  natural,  (&c.,  130-133. 

Law.  William:  works,  182;  sweetness, 
376;  severe  views,  378. 

Leaves:  beautv  (q.  v.),  405;  divinity, 
417.     (See  Flowers,  Trees.) 

Legends,  illustrating  justice  (q.  v.). 

Legislation,  special,  127. 

Leibnitz,  inspiration  of,  47. 

Leverrier,  his  new  star,  67,  99.  (See 
Astronomy,  Comet,  Stars.) 

Lexington,  Mass.,  battle,  411.  (See 
Revolutionanj  War.) 

Liberal  Christianity-:  piety,  877;  bat- 
tle, 383,  384;  meaning,  .384,  385. 
(See  Unitarians.) 

Liberty,  needing  heroism,  71,  77. 
(See  Freedom.) 

Lies,  popular,  224. 

Life:  two  obvious  things,  235;  diver- 
sity, 317;  immortal  (q.  v),  343-368; 
insufficient,  366. 

Light,  illustration  and  description,  51. 
(See  Sun.) 

Lighthouses,  illustration  of  religious 
genius,  171.     (See  Eddystonv.) 

Lightning:  occasional,  220;  errands, 
224.     (See  Electricity.) 


454 


INDEX. 


Lind,  Jenny,  406. 

Literature  :  moral  lessons,  147;  jus- 
tice looked  for  in,  150;  vice  of  re- 
ligious, 183;  piety  lacking  in,  212, 
213 ;  a  confession  of  need,  359 ;  re- 
cent advance,  430.     (See  Books.) 

Liturgies,  literary  value.  182.  (See 
Ceremonies,  Rites.) 

Loadstone,  renewal  of  magnetism,  249. 

Logic,  and  immortality  (q.  v.),  347, 
353,  354. 

London:  hypothetical  burning,  74; 
degradation,  77;  Kosciusko's  refuge, 
78;  Catholic  charity,  230;  church, 
253;  philosophy,  296.  (See  Eng- 
land.) 

Lord  :  divine  name,  113,  114 ;  applied 
to  Jesus,  281.     (See  God.) 

Louis  XV.,  chapel,  106. 

Love:  perfect  motive,  91;  category  of 
spiritual  affection  (q.  v.),  197,  198; 
fourfold  to  God,  199,  215;  crystal 
urn  shattered,  222  ;  confers  power, 
223;  ecstasy  short-lived,  249-251; 
in  Channing,  378,  395;  compared  to 
Elias,  400  ;  a  revelation,  415.  (See 
God's  Love.) 

Lowell,  Mass.,  vision  of  power,  419, 
420. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  working  power  in- 
creased, 223.     (See  Jesuits.) 

Lucan,  quoted,  49. 

Lucian,  king  of  sceptics,  183. 

Luck,  deified,  73. 

Lucretius,  on  religion,  3. 

Luke's  Gospel  (q.  v.),  differences,  303. 

Luther:  inspired,  47;  works,  184,185; 
same  guide,  337 ;  a  blessing,  430. 

Lj'ra.  illustration,  2,.8.  (See  Astron- 
omy, /Stars.) 


IVf  ACHIAVELLI,    rouses    indigna- 
tion, 150. 
Macliinery,  of  religion,  178- 
Mackintosh,    Sir  James,    his  ability, 

394. 
Magnetic  Law,  139. 
Mahometanism  :  fundamental  idea,  17, 

24;    inspiration,  43;    God-idea,    59; 

dark    views,     120  ;    books,     184  ; 

strength,  223. 
Mahometans:  great  souls  among,  210; 

courage,  229.     (See  Mussulmans.) 
Mahomet :  inspired,  52,  53  ;  and  the 

Messiah,  293;  a  blessing,  430. 
Malays,  divinely  foreknown,  101,  102, 

Hi. 
Man :  additions  to  God's  work,  1 ;  a 

worm,  21  ;  slave  of  organization,  32; 

limited  by  supernaturalism,  37;  the 


five  senses  not  his  only  teachers,  40 ; 
goodness  better  than  the  sun,  51; 
drifting,  70;  fortuitous,  73;  delined, 
90 ;  rights  before  God,  94,  95 ;  con- 
scious instrument  of  God,  120  ; 
tethers,  123;  progress,  142,  143;  one 
faculty  prominent,  175;  whole  na- 
ture rarely  known,  199.  200;  concord 
desired,  226;  derived,  230;  receiv- 
ing from  God,  237 ;  more  than  ani- 
mal, 241 ;  mind,  242  ,  and  immor- 
tality, 344,  345,  350,  356  ;  loves 
truth,  350  ;  a  worm  and  child  of 
wrath,  383;  greatness,  387;  Clian- 
ning's  view,  393;  divine  image, 
431.     (See  Human.) 

Mankind:  history  demoralized  by 
atheism,  74-84;  atomic,  140;  reach- 
ing after  absolute  right,  148:  prog- 
ress, 149;  great  end,  194;  childhood 
(q.  v.),  204  ;  not  represented  b}'  the 
Pharisees,  260  ;  loved  by  Channing, 
378;  never  old,  430. 

Manliness:  and  piety  (q.  v.),  194-215; 
of  Jesus,  279,  280,'  365. 

Marathon,  battle  of,  421. 

Marble,  institutions  made  of,  256, 
258. 

Mariners,  narrow  conception  of  nature, 
117,  118. 

Marriage  ;  differing  outlooks,  186, 
187;  table-land,  249,  2.^0;  enduring 
love  (q.  v.),  252;  in  nature,  427. 

Martyrdom  :  inspired,  50  ;  illustra- 
tions, 217-220;  lovely  forms,  220; 
glorious  purpose,  222;  courage,  229. 

Martyrs:  how  regarded,  154;  the 
tir^t,  314. 

Mary:  understanding  Jesus,  270;  her 
story  to  him,  432,  433. 

Massachusetts,  a  special  providence 
craved  for,  125. 

Master :  name  refused  by  Jesus,  282 ; 
only  one,  341. 

Materialism  :  near  c'eism,  85;  in 
Judea,  260. 

Materialists:  French,  35;  mechanical 
philosophy,  121. 

Material  World,  unconscious,  130. 

Mathematics,  illustration  of  atheism, 
63,  66,  67. 

Matter:  qualities  of  God,  64;  from  an 
atheistic  standpoint,  65-69;  different 
from  God,  86.  87 ;  all  resolved  into, 
87  :  transcended  by  God,  88  ;  half 
the  universe,  90  ;"  double-winged, 
109;  laws,  129;  ideal  action,  138; 
how  learned,  139;  rules  kept,  143. 

Matthew's  Gospel  :  limiting  Jesus, 
277;  view  of  Jesus,  306;  tirst  chap- 
ters spurious,  307. 


INDEX. 


455 


Maximus,  and  Jesus,  281. 

May-tlay,  a.  harbinger.  ;i52. 

Ma3'hew,  Jonatlian,  liberal  views,  383. 

McKav,  Captain,  valuation  of  trees 
(q.  v.),  410,  411. 

Mechanical  Theorj':  of  the  universe, 
120,  121 ;  Kewton's,  23i),  240. 

Mechanics :  divine  knowledge,  244  ; 
work  compared  with  uature,  400, 
407. 

Mediators :  needed,  38;  not  needed,  44. 

Medicine  ;  for  soul,  221 ;  repeated, 
250. 

Memorv,  in  heaven,  364,  3G5. 

Men:  no  two  alike,  27;  varying  in- 
spiration, 45;  highest  product  of  a 
nation,  164;  one  with  God,  316; 
abortions,  352  ;  in  embrvo,  35o; 
stunted,  364;  all  filled  from  God, 
420.     (See  Human,  Alan.) 

Mercantile  Civilization,  averse  to  jus- 
tice, 156. 

Merchants,  communion  with  God,  214. 

Mercy,  considered  weak,  115. 

Merrimac  Eiver,  vision  of,  419,  420. 

Messiah  :  and  Moses,  128 ;  Jesus  not 
the,  261;  disciples' belief,  270;  Jesus 
better  than  the  expected,  280  ;  and 
Mahomet,  293  ;  apples  of,  426;  spring 
compared  to,  427.     (See  Jesus.) 

Metaphvsical  Pliilosophv,  in  natural- 
ism, 30,  31. 

Metaphysics  :  of  God,  not  discussed, 
86 ;  divine  teaching,  244. 

Methodism:  strengthening,  223;  rap- 
ture, 250. 

Methodists,  view  of  Jesus,  306. 

Mexican  War,  102,  103. 

Mexico,  providential,  125. 

Michael  Angelo :  allusion,  20;  his 
Creating  God,  189  ;  imperfection, 
234.     (SeeJri.) 

Microscope:  divine  revealings,  239; 
wonders,  419.     (See  Insects.) 

Militarv  Civilization  :  averse  to  justice, 
156;  of  the  past,  159. 

Milliner,  sketch  of  a  young,  397-401. 

Millwright,  and  the  oak,  119. 

Milton,  John:  inspiration,  47;  scraggj' 
lines,  234 ;  compared  with  Jesus, 
275;  unsung,  303. 

Mind  :  immutable  laws,  45,  129  ;  a 
mediator,  52  ;  material,  73;  law, 
138;  made  better  than  conscious  :, 
156,  157;  in  its  place,  237;  in  man, 
242;  cultivated,  244;  decaving,  350, 
351  ;  school-house  for,  428j  429. 

Minerals:  cabinet  of,  181;  divine  life 
in,  240. 

Ministers,  condemned  by  Jesus,  286. 
(See  Clerr/ymen.) 


Minos,  inspiration,  45,  47,  52. 
Miracles:  materialistic,  36;  only  need- 
ful in  religion,  37;  recorded,  and  to 
one  people,  38;  Jesus  and  ]\loses 
(q.  v.),  39;  flood,  124;  Jesus'  birth, 
127  ;  placed  above  morals,  157  ; 
hurtful,  207;  divine  communion  not 
one,  244;  in  religious  elevation,  248  ; 
spoiling  the  individuality  of  Jesus, 
275;  his  birth  not  one,  279,  280; 
words  greater,  291;  in  Bible,  300- 
302,  329,  330;  supposition  of  none, 
306;  revealed,  331;  never  happened, 
332;  Paul's,  339;  in  a  revelation  of 
immortality,  343-345,  348  ;  God's 
greatness  otherwise  shown,  416,  417  ; 
nature  the  chief,  425,  429. 
Mission  of  Jesus  (q.  v.):  extract,  282- 
288  ;  saving  the  lost,  282  ;  his 
models,  282;  opposed  by  conserva- 
tism, 283;  his  parables  a  criticism, 
283;  words  like  fire,  284;  comfort 
to  those  astray,  284 ;  genius  born, 
285;  power  of' truth,  285;  greatest 
pattern  of  a  man,  285,  286;  aim  of 
his  rebukes,  286,  287. 

Mississip|)i  River,  grain  compared  to 
the,  409,  410. 

^Missouri,  Mormons  in,  219. 

Moloch,  demanding  sacrifices,  21. 

JMonadnock,  Mount,  a  comparison,  394. 

Money,  love  of,  226, 

Monopoly,  of  intellectual  power,  147, 
159. 

Monotheism:  three  forms,  17;  oneness 
of  religion,  24 ;  foreknown,  102. 

Montenegro,  troubles  in,  104. 

Moonlight,  pietv  so  called,  200. 

Moorish  Art  (q.'v.),  421. 

Moral  Culture,  neglected,  158. 

Moral  Element,  needing  culture,  156. 

Moral  Faculties,  142,  194,  195.  (See 
Conscience.) 

Moral  Force  (q.  v.):  the  great  need, 
140;  expanded,  245. 

Moral  Guidance,  needed,  160. 

Moral  Ideas,  taken  at  second-hand, 
38,  39. 

Moral  Law  (q.  v.):  derived  from  ex- 
perience, 33,  34 ;  in  general,  138  (see 
Justice)  ;  perceived  immediately, 
142. 

Moral  Power  (q.  v.),  in  Channing,  374. 

Moial  Science  (q.  v.)  Academy,  157. 

floral  Sense,  increased,  243. 

Moral  Spontaneity,  of  God,  144. 

Moral  Truth  (q.  v.),  the  highest  inspi- 
ration, 46. 

Moral  Universe  (q.  v.),  long  arc,  151. 

Morality  only  a  part  of  religion.  25, 
26  ;    sellish,    34  ;    Priestley's    cold 


456 


INDEX. 


theory,  35  ;  separated  from  piety, 
157  ;  no  substitute,  IGU  ;  dft'})er 
channels,  1C3 ;  well  taught,  172  ; 
outward  piety,  210,  212  ;  as  taught 
by  Jesus,  275,  279. 

Morals,  better  than  philosophy  (q.  v.), 
140. 

More,  Sir  Thomas  :  a  believer  in  tran- 
substautiation,  22  ;  Utopia,  150. 

Mormons  :  persecuted,  219 ;  sect,  318 ; 
sacred  books,  330. 

Mosaic  Dispensation,  same  elements, 
17. 

Moses :  regarded  as  exceptional  and 
miraculous,  39;  inspiration,  43,  45, 
47,  52;  slow,  49;  faithful,  57;  mira- 
cles, 92;  opposite  of  the  Messiah, 
128;  specially  providential,  135; 
smiting  the  rock,  180,  267  ;  gone 
home,  206;  bonds,  233;  a  religion, 
236 ;  inspired,  254,  255 ;  looked  back 
to  by  Jews,  258,  259.  261 ;  returned, 
206  ;  supposition  of  Jesus'  adherence 
to,  272  ;  not  alone,  279  ;  burning 
bush,  301,  429  ;  Jesus'  truth  not 
from,  312  ;  world  of,  317  ;  special 
revelation,  331;  law,  334;  allusion, 
337;  tilled  from  the  fountain,  341; 
sleep  compared  to,  400 ;  forty  years 
of  miracles,  417  ;  come  at  last,  425; 
of  humanity,  430;  vision,  432. 

Motes,  rights  of,  95.     (See  Insects) 

Motherhood :  sacrifices  and  selfishness, 
71;  partiality,  126;  breast,  245;  in- 
stance of  suffering,  252;  everlasting 
love,  360,  361.     (See  God.) 

Motives:  perfect  in  God,  90,  91;  of 
Jejus,  282. 

Mountain,  and  cloud  (q.  v.),  320. 

Mozart:  imperfect,  234;  composition, 
400. 

Music:  inspiring  angel,  21;  of  Chris- 
tianity, 291  ;  cathedral,  400,  401. 
(See  Beethoven.) 

Mussulmans,  special  divine  favorites, 
125.     (See  Mahometans.) 

Mystics:  teaching  divine  union,  47; 
reformers  accused  of  being,  175. 

Mythology :  resurrection  of  Jesus,  288 ; 
not  history,  335. 

"IV'APLES:  criminals,  165;  poverty, 

-'-^      229.     (See  Italy.) 

N.Tpoleon  Bonaparte:  enforced  humil- 
ity, 5;  Prometheus  bound,  105; 
providential,  134;  instrument  of 
justice,  152.     (See  France.) 

Napoleon  III.,  the  Little,  71 ;  sensu- 
alitv,  76,  77;  coup  d'etat,  98;  Cain, 
99.' 


Nationality,  a  limitation,  279. 

Nations :  each  taking  its  turn  at  lead- 
ership, 17  ;  and  divinclv  foreknown, 
101-103;  might  making  right,  115; 
bubbles,  141;  witliout  justice  (q.  v.), 
160;  highest  fruit,  164;  religious 
traditions,  206. 

Naturalism,  near  deism,  85. 

Naturalism,  Supernaturalism,  and 
Spiritualism:  essay,  29-57;  nature's 
powers  from  God,  29,  30;  perception 
and  reflection,  29-31;  necessity,  32; 
spiritual  knowledge  denied,  31-33; 
ceremonies  held  as  useless,  33-36 ; 
modern  forms  of  naturalism,  35,  36 ; 
supernaturalism  based  on  natural- 
ism, 36-42;  spiritual  want  and  its 
supply,  42-51  ;  inspiration  (q.  v.) 
learned  from  nature,  51 ;  holy  men, 

52,  53;  divine  influence  unlimited, 

53,  54;  personal  knowledge,  54-56; 
present  value,  56,  57. 

Niitural  History:  illustrating  provi- 
dence, 93;  suffering,  107;  divine 
place  for  all  creatures,  119.  (See 
Animals,  Beauty,  Birds,  Insects.) 

Natural  Philosophj':  differing  sj-stems, 
295,  296;  second-band,  297;  con- 
flict with  Bible,  300. 

Natura,  of  Spinoza  (q.  v.),  64. 

Nature:  inspiration  in  viewing.  6;  a 
name  for  God,  63,  64,  60;  fortui- 
tous, 73  ;  different  from  God,  86, 
87  ;  perfect  cause,  90-92  ;  lessons, 
184,  185;  works  from  within,  239; 
replaced  by  churches,  253;  no  waste, 
257;  supposed  sympathy  with  Je- 
sus, 271;  lessons  to  Jesus,  273,  274; 
analogies  for  immortality,  351 ;  di- 
vine gifts,  361 ;  influence  over  Chan- 
ning,  377,  393;  beauty  (q.  v.),  398- 
418;  no  wrong  matches,  409;  walks 
backward,  413  ;  in  spring  (q.  v.), 
419-438  jiassim ;  revival,  422;  a 
primer,  429.     (See  God,  Sjiring.) 

Nazareth,  truth  found  there,  317.  (See 
Hyssop.  Jesus.) 

Nebuchadnezzar,  King,  221. 

Necessity:  a  concomitant  of  natural- 
ism (q.  v.),  32;  views  of  Ennnons 
!uid  Hopkins,  121. 

New  England :  religion  the  same,  28 ; 
theory  of  naturalism,  35,  36  ;  tacitly 
admitting  intuition,  41,  42;  rocks, 
119;  insects,  120;  power  of  intellec- 
tuality, 147,  157;  Bible,  152;  moral 
guidance,  160  ;  reformers,  173  ;  a 
religious  poet's  influence,  182,  183; 
Puritan  courage,  229  ;  Bible  studied, 
311  ;  truth  there,  317  ;  saints  and 
their  Bible,  321;  Channing's  influ- 


INDEX. 


45T 


ence,  371;  cruel  ideas  of  God,  383; 
bobolinks,  400.     (See  America.) 
New   llampsliire,   mountain    sources, 

419,  420. 
New  Jerusalem,   justice  in  the,   150. 
(See  Heaven,  Immortality.) 

Newport,  K.  I.,  Chauning's  (q.  v.) 
birtliplace,  3G9. 

New  Testament:  view  of  God,  113;  to 
be  cautiously  road,  182;  of  science, 
184;  courai^'e,  228;  changing  esti- 
mate, 302,  307;  religion  not  depend- 
ent on,  308;  on  creation,  31'J;  spu- 
rious books,  32!) ;  hostility  to  Old 
(q.  v.),  332  ;  once  unwritten,  333; 
beauty,  339.  (See  Bible,  Ejjistles, 
Inspiration.) 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac:  his  science  trusted, 
33;  inspiration,  44,  47;  increasing 
the  divine  knowledge,  87;  works, 
184;  not  sent  back  to  school,  205; 
mechanism  in  theorv,  239,  240 ;  re- 
spect for,  281;  and  Bible,  326; 
science,  327;  Principia,  331;  not 
dead,  351;  mind,  353;  an  unknown, 
.363.  ^ 

New  York :  supposed  burning,  74 ; 
criminals,  165. 

New  Zealand:  cannibals,  15,  77;  re- 
ligion the  same,  28;  savages,  364. 

Niagara,  melting,  233. 

Nice,  Council  of,  355.  (See  Canon, 
Roman  Catholic.) 

Nicholas,  Emperor,  tyranny,  70,  71. 

Nile,  overflow  of  the,  124.  ' 

Nineveh,  religious  light,  341.  (See 
Babylon.) 

Niobe,  allusion,  80. 

Noah:  the  tlood  (q.  v.), .37, 124;  curs- 
ing his  sons,  134,  158;  a  simile,  413. 

Norsemen,  their  view  of  foriciveness, 
148. 

North  America  (q.  v.),  revival  of  na- 
ture, 422. 

North  Carolina,  slavery  (q.  v.)  in,  365. 

Nortiiern  States,  tyranny  of  capital  in, 
135. 

North  Star,  seen,  399.  (See  Astron- 
omy, Stars.) 

Norton,  Andrews,  liberal  views,  385. 

Norway  Pines,  67. 

Nubia,  inspiration  there,  53. 

Numa,  inspired,  52. 

Nun,  religion  not  a,  378.  (See  Ro- 
man Catholic.) 

Nuts,  ripening,  351.     (See  Trees.) 


riAK-TREE  :  description,  118,  119, 

^~'     130,    131;   illustration    of   pietj', 

211;   its   remembrances,   364,  365; 


beauty,  408;  stories,  412.  (See 
Trees.) 

Obedience:  a  condition  of  inspiration 
(q.  v.),  46,  51;  man's  duty,  114; 
teaching  the  ideal  of  material  law, 
138. 

Observation :  not  the  sole  teacher  of 
God,  85;  teaching  material  law,  138; 
and  moral,  143.     (See  Intuition.) 

Ocean:  in  small  measure,  86;  service 
to  the  world,  109;  of  justice,  255. 

Odin,  a  defective  deitv,  117. 

Old  Testament  :  view  of  God's  de- 
spair, 104;  men,  God's  slaves,  113; 
courage,  228;  literarv  abilitv,  275; 
poetry,  276;  Jehovah,  277,  278; 
supposed  death  of  God  in  giving 
birth  to,  283;  men  burned  for  dis- 
belief, 300;  errors,  301,  302;  idol- 
ized, 302;  assent  not  demanded  by 
Jesus,  304  ;  hypothesis  of  its  dis- 
appearance, 306;  authority  gone, 
307;  iictions,  309;  high  teaching, 
311;  on  creation,  319;  authority 
sot  aside,  329;  hostilitj-  to  the  New 
(q.  v.),  332,  333.  (See  Bible,  In- 
spiration, Isaiah,  Prophets,  Psalms.) 

Ontology,  and  immortality,  345,  347. 

Oracle,  in  the  breast,  309.  (See  Con- 
science.) 

Order,  everywhere,  96,  97. 

Ordinances  of  lieligion,  the  only  real, 
208.     (See  Ceremonies,  Rites.) 

Organ  of  the  Infinite,  308. 

Oriental  Poetry,  mistaken  for  history, 
300,  302.     (See  Genesis.) 

Orient:  religious  stock,  17,  18;  tem- 
ples, 20. 

Origen :  his  church,  218;  Scripture 
canon,  333. 

Originality,  not  strong  in  Channing, 

Orion's  Belt,  238,  239,  399.     (See  As- 

tronomy,  Stars.) 
Orpheus,  inspired,  47. 
Orthodoxy,  Jewish,  264. 
Oscillation,  in  margin  of  free-will,  99, 

100,  1.39,  141. 
Owen,  Robert,  an  unbeliever,  285. 
Oxen:  illustrating  a  church,  178,  170; 

God's  care,  423,  427.    (See  Animals, 

Cattle.) 
Oyster,  following  an  eagle's  flight,  282. 


PAGANISM,   identity   of   religious 

-*■      idea,  20,  24. 

Pagans:    convicted    of    atheism,    16; 

religious  courage,  229. 
Pain,  providential,  112. 
Palestine,  sacred,  53.   (See  Jerusalem.) 


458 


INDEX. 


Paley,  William,  selfish  tlieories,  35,  30. 

Pantheism :  involving  the  religions 
idea,  24;  God  iu  each  flower,  113; 
mechanical  theory,  121;  a  variable 
God,  128. 

Pantheists:  two  classes,  87;  not  help- 
ful, 203. 

Parables,  beauty,  339.  (See  Good 
Samaritan,  Produ/al,  &c.) 

Paradise,  allusion,  127.    (See  Heaven.) 

Paris  :  philosophers,  15  ;  supposed 
burning,  74  ;  church,  253.  (See 
France.) 

Parker,  Theodore:  not  cowardly,  82, 
83;  nor  sad,  83,  84;  life-incidents 
foreknown,  104;  sermon,  105;  early 
opinion  about  sinlessness,  234  ; 
brother's  death,  359,  306. 

Parthenon,  inspired  by  religion,  20. 

Passion  :  and  conscience  (q.  v.),  217; 
periods,  225,  220 ;  in  youth,  227. 

Passover  Sabbath,  a  stor^-  about  Jesus, 
432,  433. 

Patriarchs,  their  religion  outgrown, 
213.     (See  Old  Testament.) 

Patriotism:  made  foolish  by  atheism, 
70.  71,  77,  78 ;  subordinate  to  justice, 
142. 

Paul :  change  of  religion,  28  ;  inspira- 
tion, 39,  47;  theism,  59;  on  idols, 
60;  fastings,  76  ;  on  the  contract  of 
Abraham,  125;  enmity,  172  ;  perse- 
cuted, 218  ;  light,  222  ;  strength 
from  Christ,  223  ;  would  be  sur- 
prised at  our  books,  299;  the  law  a 
shadow,  302;  differing  from  Peter, 
303  ;  changes  since  his  day,  304  ; 
echo  of  Jesus,  310 ;  same  guide,  337  ; 
manly,  339;  and  slavery,  340;  belief 
in  bodily  resurrection,  355  ;  alone, 
385 ;  before  Felix,  392  ;  his  word 
about  oxen,  423  ;  a  blessing,  430. 
(See.  Apostles,  Bible,  Ejnsttes,  In- 
spiration, Neio  Testament.  1 

Pencil,  divine  law  in  a,  240-242. 

Pentecost:  allusions,  310,  311 ;  of  the 
year,  424. 

Perception  :  as  a  teacher,  29-31  ;  the 
quick,  of  Jesus,  273. 

Perfection:  in  God  (q.  v.),  89;  mo- 
tives, 90-92  ;  everywhere,  93-95  ; 
text,  164  ;  following  religious  ideal, 
167,  168  ;  not  in  Jesus,  278,  279; 
commanded,  311  ;  affecting  immor- 
tality, 351,  352.  (See  Imperfectinn.) 
Permanency   of  Christianity'  (q.  v  ), 

289-325  j^rfssm. 
Persia,  divinely  foreknown,  102.    (See 

Zoroaster.) 
Person,  Jesus  the   great,   of  history, 
271. 


Pestilence,  an  i'lustration,  221. 

Peter  the  Apostle;  inspiration,  44;  lies, 
48;  in  Jerusalem,  177;  courage,  196; 
denial,  197;  persecuted,  218;  faults, 
270;  differs  from  Paul  (q.  v.),  303; 
authority,  340. 

Pharaoh,  killed,  283.  (See  Egypt, 
Moses.) 

Pharisees:  modern,  70;  idolatrj',  174; 
struck  by  lightning  v/ords,  175;  per- 
secutors, 218;  and  Jesus,  256,259; 
believers.  260;  strictness,  261;  scorn, 
262,  263;  orthodoxy,  264:  Jesus  not 
for  them  alone,  267;  hatred,  268; 
ceremonies,  269  ;  authority,  270  ; 
enemies  of  Jesus,  283;  belief  in  bod- 
ily resurrection,  355.  (See  Essents, 
Sadducees.) 

Phidias:  allusion,  20;  inspiration,  47; 
his  Pallas,  189.     (See  Art.) 

Philadeliihia,  Pa.,  Channing's  sermon 
there,  384. 

Philanthropy :  inspired  with  truth, 
46;  met  by  religious  genius,  172; 
and  piety,  200,  201,  210,  212;  crea- 
tive, 230";  in  Jesus,  230. 

Philo,  on  the  Essenes  (q.  y.),  260. 

Philosophers  :  inspired,  46  ;  atheistic, 
61-63;  in  America,  62;  may  be  sen- 
timental, 175;  seemingly  godless, 
199,  200;  bad  name,  208;  Channing 
not  one,  373. 

Philosophic  Theism  (q.  y.  1,  90. 

Philosophy:  an  art,  122  ;  teaching 
God,  237.  239  ;  settled  by  Scripture, 
301;  and  immortality,  346. 

Phineas,  providential,  133. 

Phylacteries,  not  worn  by  Jesus,  269. 

Pictures,  how  made,  188,  189.  (See 
Art,  Raphael.) 

Piety  :  divorced  from  morality  (q.  v.), 
157;  fourfold  form,  167;  manlier, 
184,189;  fire,  189,  190:  long-lived, 
232;  as  taught  by  Jesus,  275,  279; 
demanded,  317 ;  Channing's,  371, 
375,  395;  as  a  brook,  .375;  ancient, 
377;  large,  378.     (See  Relifjion.) 

Piety,  and  its  Kelation  to  a  Manly 
Life :  sermon,  194-215  ;  defined, 
194;  manliness  the  great  purpose, 
194,  195;  piety  the  basis,  195;  God 
seen  in  truth,'  195,  196 ;   and  right, 

196,  197;  love,  the  affectional  part, 

197,  198;    unconscious   piety,    199- 

202  ;  undervalued  by  philanthro- 
pists, 200;  instinctive" in  childhood, 
201,202;  conscious  piety,  202,  203; 
relation  plain,    203  ;    experiments, 

203  ;  natural  course,  203  ;  helps 
needful,  204,  205  ;  but  outgrown, 
204,  205,  207;  pernicious  error,  206; 


INDEX. 


459 


national  institutions,  200,  207;  why 
piety  is  rejected,  208 ;  confounded 
with  errors,  208,  20'J  ;  natural  form, 
20^-212;  degrees,  209;  individual 
ascendency',  210;  growth,  210-212; 
not  ascetic,  211  ;  mockery,  212  ; 
lack  in  literature,  212,  21-3  ;  real, 
needed,  21^3  ;  more  demanded,  213, 
214;  modern  form,  214  ;  all  parts, 
214,  215;  iucarnate  and  total,  214; 
attainable,  215. 

Pilate:  aUusion,  225;  against  Jesus, 
272;  pomp,  282. 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  providential,  134. 

Pilgrims,  finding  water,  177. 

Pindar,  Peter  :  inspired,  47 ;  on  Kos- 
ciusiio,  78. 

Pine-tree,  imperfect,  234.   (See  Trees.) 

Pirates:  often  religious,  165;  teaching 
others  in  heaven,  361. 

Pius  IX.,  tyranny,  71. 

Plants,  adding  to  (iod's  knowledge,  87. 

Plato:  inspired,  47;  his  Republic,  150; 
and  Jesus,  2ii3;  wisdom,  327.  (See 
Greece.) 

Platonists,  teaching  divine  union,  46. 

Pleasure,  lust  for,  227.     (See  Pain.) 

Poetic  Quotations :  human  power,  109 ; 
sheep  unfed,  174  ;  "  There  are 
briars,"  193;  "fresh  fields,"  204; 
perfection,  239  ;  misfortunes,  240 ; 
humility,  246 ;  elevation  of  soul,  249  ; 
religious  meditation,  250  ;  trials, 
255;  leaves  fallen,  299;  consolation, 
325;  on  nature's  Bible,  3-39;  liberal 
religion,  393;  jovs  of  age,  395; 
cradle-song,  397,  "398  ;  stars,  .398; 
sleep,  399';  May,  405;  bees,  409; 
doctrines,  415;  sea,  421;  apostrophe 
to  Love,  428.  (See  Coleridge,  Em- 
erson, Goldsmith,  ike.) 

Poet :  inspiring  gift,  244  ;  painting 
word-pictures,  263. 

Poetrj' :  inspired,  46 :  masterpieces, 
181 ;  Bible,  276,  332;  in  nature,  377. 
(See  Literature.) 

Poland,  fallen,  78. 

Policy,  and  honesty,  224,  225. 

Politics:  hurtful,  100;  no  religion  in, 
204.  "^  ' 

Polycarp,  persecuted,  218. 

Polytheism  :  developed,  23,  24  ;  fore- 
known, 102;  splitting  deity,  113. 

Pomponatius,  34,  35. 

Pope,  sacredness  of  the,  52. 

Popular  Theology  (q.  v.) :  its  idea  of 
God,  89-91;  sad  view  of  the  world, 
110;  unphilosophical,  112,  130;  sin, 
127. 

Potter :  Bible  illustration,  115  ;  last- 
ing, 233. 


Power:  two  modes,  210;  love  of,  220. 

Powers,  religious,  104-193.  (See  Cul- 
ture.) 

Praxiteles  :  allusion,  20  ;  inspiration, 
47.     (See  Art,  Phidias.) 

Prayer:  in  boy  and  man,  28;  natural 
need,  33,  34;  gj-nniastics,  34;  apos- 
trophe, 34;  willed  or  spontaneous, 
43,  44;  painted.  248;  highest  rare, 
249;  daily,  250;  hallowed  by  Jesus, 
291;  not  the  whole  of  piety,  378;  in 
spring,  434-438. 

Prayers:  easy,  275;  theological,  402. 

Preaching,  affected  by  congregation, 
324.  (See  Chtrrches,  Ministry, 
Priesthood,  Pulpit.) 

Press,  an  educational  force,  108-170. 
(See  Books.) 

Priesthood :  not  the  authority  for  the 
soul,  348,  349  ;  inspiring'  fear  of 
death,  359.  (See  Church,  Ministry, 
Roman  Catholic.) 

Priestle}',  Joseph,  coldness,  35. 

Printing:  illustration,  69:  death  of 
feudalism,  159.     (See  Press.) 

Prodigal  Son:  husks,  255;  effect  of 
the  parable,  277;  a  rebuke,  283. 
(See  Parables.) 

Progress,  in  future  life  (q.  v.),  362, 
363. 

Prometheus:  bound,  105;  allusion, 
177.     (See  Napoleon.) 

Prophecy:  believed,  301;  fulfilled, 
321;  unfulfilled,  332;  of  endless  life, 
350. 

Prophets  :  fanciful,  34;  false  and  true, 
52,53;  in  advance,  59;  seed  alive, 
174;  great  words,  182;  outgrown 
religion,  213;  a  new  one  welcomed, 
258  ;  Jesus  Christ  one,  281  ;  not 
claiming  infallibility,  304;  warming 
the  heart,  310;  vigorous,  3-38,339; 
from  time  to  time,  341;  stoned,  392. 
(See  A7nos,  &c.) 

Protestantism  :  mechanical  theories, 
121;  books,  184;  human  side  of 
Jesus,  306;  smiling  at  controversies, 
314;  disputes,  315.  (See  Roman 
Catholic.) 

Protestants  :  inspired,  53  ;  saving  be- 
lief, 157;  good  works  opposed,  158; 
great  souls,  210  ;  view  of  Bible,  301 ; 
miraculous  Bible,  329 ;  deny  Rome's 
authority,  330. 

Proverbs,  about  justice,  151. 

Proverbs,  Book  of:  ability,  275;  self- 
ish, 332;  cited,  340. 

Providence:  made  material,  34;  de- 
nied by  atheism,  73,  81;  perfect, 
92-94;  "sermon,  112-137;  plan,  ]  12; 
the  divine  watching,  112, 113;  func- 


460 


INDEX. 


tions,  113,  114;  duty,  114;  clay  and 
potter,  115;  demands  of  justice,  116; 
intiuite,  116,  117;  in  the  oak,  118, 
119;  interference  of  diabolism,  119, 
120;  two  theories,  120;  meclianical, 
shown  in  variable  forms,  120-122; 
free-will  recognized,  122,  123  ;  lim- 
itations, 123;  complicating,  123,  124; 
two  modes,  124:  general  and  special, 
124,  125;  favoritism,  126,  127;  mi- 
raculous interference,  127;  limited, 
128;  unlimited.  129-135;  through 
laws,  135;  causalitv,  136,  137;  of 
the  world,  416,  418.  "  (See  God.) 

Psalms:  theistic  texts,  58,  62,  216; 
deeper,  178;  some  beautiful,  181; 
warming  the  heart,  310;  best  part 
of  church  service,  334;  curses,  334; 
beauty,  338;  119th,  414.  (See 
David,  Jews,  Old  Testament.) 

Psvchology :  the  divine,  86 ;  rejected, 
122.     (See  Soul.) 

Publican  and  Pharisee,  the  parable 
(q.  v.),  282. 

Pulpit,  freedom  essential,  324,  325. 
(See  Preachhiff.) 

Puritans :  troublesome  to  the  Stuarts, 
152;  endurance,  229;  and  Easter, 
287. 

Puritj-,  demanded,  317. 

Pj'ramids,  built  by  religion,  20.  (See 
E!/ij2)t.) 

Pythagoras,  430. 


QUAKERS:  persecuted,  219;  allu- 
sion, 317.     (See  Fox.) 


T)  ABBINS,  bearded,  228. 

■^^    Races,  differently  developed,  17. 

(See  Human.) 
Eain-drop,  as  illustrating  providence, 

109. 
Rank,  love  of,  226. 
Raphael:  inspired,  47;  his  St.  Cecilia, 

189;    defects,    234;  Bible   art,  327; 

art  compared  with  the  divine,  356. 

(See  Ai't,  Titian,  &c.) 
Reasoning:    about    God,  29,  30;  im- 
mortality, 343,  344,  347,  353,  354. 

(See  Logic.) 
Reason :  sacrificed  to  supernaturalism, 

39;  teaching  God,  43;  other  truths, 

46  ;  as  an  intellectual   power,  194 ; 

judging  Christianity,  316;  excluded 

from    Biblical   criticism,    S29,    330; 

survival,  336,  337.     (See  Mind.) 
Reflection:  as  a  teacher.  29-31,  142, 

143;  aid  to  instinct,  201. 
Reformation,  Protestant:   its  religion 


outgrown,  213 ;  human  side  of  Jesus 
emphasized,  306. 

Reformers,  outcry  against,  172,  173. 

Reforms,  Channing's  interest  in,  387, 
388. 

Regularity,  in  nature,  132. 

Relation  of  Jesus  to  his  Age  and  the 
Ages:  sermon,  256-272;  great  men 
remarkable,  256 ;  two  kinds  of  great- 
ness, popular  and  unpopular,  257; 
Jesus',  of  the  latter,  257,  258;  little 
thought  of  at  first,  258,  259;  three 
Jewish  parties,  259-267:  Sadducees, 

259,  260;  Pharisees,   200;  Essenes, 

260,  261;  outsiders,  263,  264;  effect 
on  the  people,  265,  266;  speaking 
from  experience,  266  ;  and  hope, 
267;  opposition,  267,  208;  faith  in 
God  and  man,  268;  authority,  268, 
269;  summary,  269;  doctrines  un- 
changed, 270;  rank  different,  270, 
271;  apotheosis,  271;  the  person  of 
the  ages,  271,  272;  separation  from, 
282. 

Relations,  threefold  human,  216. 

Relics:  attention  to,  158;  worshipped, 
336. 

Religion:  identical  with  priestcraft, 
34;  at  second-hand,  40;  revealed  to 
saints,  46  ;  natural  to  man,  84;  cul- 
ture (q.  v.),  164-193;  work  the  best 
school  of,  190;  two  requirements, 
194;  faculties,  194, 195;  not  in  poli- 
tics, 208;  more  needed  than  theol- 
ogy, 204;  hope  gone,  283;  Chris- 
tianity (q.  v.),  289-325 ;  always  the 
same,  293 ;  two  forms  in  Bible,  331, 
332;  for  all,  334;  winning  in  Chan- 
ning,  378  ;  one  denomination,  371 ; 
made  beautiful,  377;  recent  ad- 
vances, 430. 

Religious  Consciousness  (q.  v.):  two 
great  truths  essential,  41;  confer- 
ring strength,  216-230. 

Religious  Element  in  Man :  essay,  1- 
28;  the  creations  of  God  and  man,  1, 
2;  source  of  religion,  2,  3,  4;  wor- 
ship, 4,  5;  mystery  and  helpless- 
ness of  personal  lite,  5,  6;  analysis 
of  man's  nature,  6,  7  ;  induction 
leading  to  religion,  7 ;  dependence, 
7,  8 ;  intuition  and  revelation  early 
reached,  8,  9;  a  priori  and  a  jjos- 
teriori  arguments,  9,  10 ;  idea  of 
God  presupposed,  10 ;  primitive  con- 
ception, 10, 11;  personally  modified, 
11-13;  inborn  faculties  the  basis  of 
religion,  13,  14;  universality,  14- 
19;  human  similarity,  14;  history 
of  religions,  14,  15;"  atheistic  ex- 
ceptions   to    the    rule,   15,   16;  an 


INDEX. 


461 


ante-relif,nous  period,  IG;  dc<;rees 
of  eiulipwment,  17;  three  forms  of 
monotheistic  relit;ion,  17-1'J;  inde- 
structibility, 19;  strength  and  dei)th, 
19-23  ;  identity  and  prolific  parent- 
age, 19,  20;  inspiration  of  art  and 
civilization,  20,  21;  absurd  ex- 
tremes, 21,  22,  23  ;  all  religion  one, 
23,  2-4  ;  how  to  determine  the  abso- 
lute religion,  21,  25;  definition,  25; 
speculative  tendency,  25;  religious 
consciousness  progressive,  25,  20 ; 
a  common  element  in  varving  forms, 
27,  28. 

Remorse,  teaching  of,  191,  192. 

Renown,  love  of,  22(5. 

Repentance,  preached  by  Jesus,  266, 
267. 

Reptiles,  providential  place,  119.  (See 
Animals,  Birds,  Insects.) 

Reputation:  a  bubble,  141;  and  char- 
acter (q.  v.),  164. 

Resignation,  Christian  duty,  316. 

Resurrection  of  the  Body,  351,  355. 

Resurrection  of  Jesus  (q.  v.):  sym- 
bolic, 271 ;  a  mythic,  287,  288  ;  con- 
ferring kingship,  304;  Gnostic  view, 
313. 

Retribution:  proverbial,  151;  future 
(q.  V.)  essential,  357,  358.  (See 
Eternul  Torment,  Hell.) 

Revelation :  powerless  without  intui- 
tion, 13,14;  identical  with  natural 
religion,  24;  metaphoric,  34;  occa- 
sional and  miraculous,  37;  confined 
to  Jews,  38;  verbal,  38,  39;  limited 
to  a  few  minds,  41;  the  world  a, 
23S;  of  immortality,  343,  344;  of 
God's  love,  415;  providence,  416; 
to  the  eye,  429. 

Revenge,  wild  justice,  148. 

Reverence:  intuitive,  24;  Christian 
duty,  316. 

Revival  of  Nature  (q.  v.),  421-424. 
(See  Beauty,  Sprinr/.) 

Revolutionary  War,  inspired  by  liberal 
ministers,  383. 

Right:  identical  in  God  and  man,  46, 
47;  loved  for  itself,  197;  desire  and 
practice,  223,  224;  striven  for,  245. 

Rights,  involved  in  God's  (q.  v.)  cre- 
ation, 94,  9.5,  114. 

Ring,  in  nature's  marriage  (q.  v.),  427. 

Ripeness,  as  illustrating  immortality 
(q.  v.),  351,  352. 

Rites,  changing,  295.  (See  Ceremonies, 
Worship.) 

Ritualism,  easy,  275. 

River,  the  Bible  a,  310,  311.  (See 
Merrimac,  (S:c.) 

Rogers,  John,  persecuted,  222. 


Roman  Catholic  Church:  inspiration, 
53;  patron  saints,  113;  mechanical 
theology,  131;  legends,  150;  sacra- 
ments, 157;  faith  and  works,  158; 
relics,  158;  reverenced,  169;  books, 
184;  great  souls,  210;  strengthen- 
ing, 223;  sisterhoods,  229,  230;  fes- 
tivities, 287,  288  ;  opinions  about 
Bible,  301  ;  divine  side  of  Jesus, 
305,  306;  smiling  at  disputes,  314; 
disputes,  315;  all  not  members,  317; 
view  of  Bible,  330. 

Rome,  Ancient :  civilization,  82  ;  idea 
of  God,  89 ;  frightened  by  a  comet, 
99;  foreknown,  102  ;  providential, 
133;  Telemachus,  172;  poetry,  181; 
good  survives,  232;  officials  in  Pal- 
estine, 261;  gods,  270,  277;  light, 
341  ;  belief  in  immortality,  343; 
priesthood,  348,  349  ;  civilization, 
430.     (See  Greece.) 

Rome,  Modern:  a  perjured  Pope,  105; 
the  poor,  229;  a  church,  253. 

Rose,  its  beauty  and  cure,  109.  (See 
Beauty,  Flowers  ) 

Russia  :  divinely  foreknown,  104, 107; 
repulse  of  Napoleon,  153. 


CABBATH:  worshipped,  276;  chimes, 
^    290;  origin,  337.     (See  Sunday.) 
Sacraments:  saving,  157;  inculcated, 

168 ;  of  life,  186. 
Saddler,  his  stitches  forgotten,  365. 
Sadducees :    modern,  70;   indifference 

and   culture,   259-261  ;    relation   to 

Jesus,  202,  270  ;   scorn,  203  ;    Jesus 

not  their  partisan,  267;  disbelief  of 

future  life,  355. 
Sadness:  Parker's,  83,  84;   hours  of, 

191. 
Sahara,  illustration  of  atheism,  79. 
Saints:  inspired  for  religion,  46;  the 

class,  165;  made  by  industry,   190; 

thanks  for  all,  ISO,' 431. 
Saint  Andrew's  Sword,  76.  77. 
Saint  Catherine's  Wheel,  76,  77. 
Saint  Cecilia:  picture  of,  189;  music 

(q.  v.),  401. 
Saint  Domingo,  hero  of,  105. 
Saint  Lawrence's  Fire,  76,  77. 
Saint  Nature  (q.  v.),  415. 
Saint    Peter's    Church,    400.      (See 

Home.) 
Saint  Sebastian's  Arrows,  76,  77. 
Saint  Victor,   Hugh  de:    inspiration, 

48;  traits,  376. 
Saint-worship  (q.  v.),  336- 
Salem,  Mass.,  ordination  sermon,  384. 
Samuel  the  prophet,  206. 
Sanchoniathon,  cosmogonj'  of,  326. 


462 


INDEX. 


Sanhedrim,  authority  of  the,  317. 

Sarah,  commended,  340. 

Saturnian  Day,  2U'J. 

Saturn,  sacrifices  to,  21. 

Savages,  life  among,  350. 

Saxon  Race,  providential,  101,  102. 

Saxony,  schools  in,  169. 

Scandinavian  Nations,  divinelv  fore- 
known, 101,  102. 

Scepticism:  Hume's  (q.  v.),  35;  in 
Bible,  332. 

Scholars,  no  return  to  the  primer,  205. 

School,  illustration  of  divine  govern- 
ment, 126. 

Science :  inspired,  46 ;  in  its  igno- 
rance trusts  God,  137;  books,  184; 
its  New  Testament,  184;  in  astron- 
omy (q.  v.),  198  ;  Coleridge  and 
Kant,  239;  false  systems,  297,  298; 
and  the  Bible,  326 ;  not  in  Scripture, 
338 ;  recent  advancement,  430. 

Scotland,  ideas  of  justice,  148,  149. 

Scott,  Walter,  his  ability,  394. 

Scribes:  rebuked,  174,  175;  persecut- 
ors, 218  ;  authority,  208-270;  ene- 
mies, 283.     (iSee  Pharisees.) 

Scriptures  :  documents,  38  ;  canon 
closed,  39;  infallibility,  40;  ques- 
tions of  lingual  accuracy,  314;  old 
doctrines,  380.  (See  Bible,  Old 
Testament.) 

Sculpture:  religious  origin,  20;  how 
wrought,  189.  (See  Art,  Michael 
Anqelo,  Phidias.) 

Sea:  ■  God's,  141,  163;  carpet  of,  420  ; 
age,  421.     (See  Ocean.) 

Seasons,  connection  of  the,  352.  (See 
Spring.) 

Sebastopol,  fortress,  421. 

Sectarianism  :  cursing  .Jesus,  269  ; 
Channing's  freedom  from,  371.  (See 
CJiurches.) 

Sects :  each  teaching  a  truth,  169 ; 
great  souls  in  all,  210;  inspired  by 
Jesus,  285;  no  monopoly  of  truth, 
314;  and  Christianity,  320;  creeds, 
321;  internal  suspicion,  322;  pietv, 
375. 

Secret  of  God,  315. 

Self-command,  bought  with  a  price, 
380. 

Self-consciousness :  awakening  depen- 
dence. 237;  leads  to  God,  238;  not 
in  babes,  243. 

Self-denial:  arises  from  religion,  226, 
227 ;  supplies  energv,  229. 

Selfishness:  impossible  with  God,  92; 
varying  forms,  225,  226. 

Self-love:  subordinate  tn  right,  142; 
ii' dispensable,  225;  to  be  conquered, 
22G. 


Self-reliance,  from  religion,  230. 

Self-respect,  developed,  226. 

Self-sacrifice:  inspired  by  religion, 
22,  23;  from  inspiration,  48. 

Sensational  Philosophy,  near  deism, 
85. 

Sensation,  not  the  whole  of  man,  40. 

Senses:  the  five,  40;  their  teacliing, 
46.     (See  Person.) 

Sensuality:  hating  religion,  19;  love 
for,  226. 

Sentences:  deferred,  153,  154;  sure, 
160,  161. 

Sentimentalism,  accusation  of,  175. 

Sentiments,  religious,  171. 

Sermon  on  the  Mount :  sentiments, 
185;  for  common  people,  203,264; 
making  ears  tingle,  28G  ;  simple, 
319. 

Sermons:  never  fortuitous,  68;  fore- 
known, 105 ;  antiquated,  314.  (See 
Preaching.) 

Serpents,  to  be  strangled,  266. 

Servetus,  execution  of,  60. 

Shackford,  C.  C,  ordination,  .323-325. 

Shakespeare :  The  Merchant  of  Venice 
quoted,  187;  imagination,  275;  on 
adversity,  367;  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,  400.     (See  Poetry.) 

Shasters,  authority  of,  330,  335. 

Sheep,  illustration  of  truth's  need,  174. 

Sliekinah,  the,  56. 

Sheniitic  Familv,  religious.  17,  18. 

Shepherd:  God" a,  359;  hireling,  360. 

Shibboleth,  not  spoken  by  Jesus, 
262. 

Shipwreck,  and  Bible,  327. 

Shute,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Hingham.  383. 

Siberia,  fetters,  77.     (See  Russia.) 

Siljylline  Leaves,  inspired,  52. 

Sickness,  a  terror,  218. 

Silesia,  tvrannv  in,  155. 

Siloam,  tower' of,  130,  131,  274,  279. 

Simeon :  in  New  England,  321 ;  praver 
of,  425. 

Simeon  Stylites,  21. 

Simplicity",  of  Clianning,  375. 

Sinai,  an'ancient  conception,  279. 

Sni :  as  including  all  natural  human 
action,  37;  phenomena,  112;  help  to 
growth,  191;  experimental  failure, 
234 ;  voluntary,  246;  helps  us  to  God, 
255 ;  Jesus'  hatred  of,  278 ;  not  ever- 
lasting, 368.     (See  Crime.) 

Sinlessness,  impossible,  234,  235. 

Sinners  :  class,  165  ;  all  men,  191,  192 ; 
ceasing  to  be  so  bad,  206 ;  better  die 
than  live,  359. 

Sins:  actual,  173;  specially  hated  in 
self,  359. 

Sirius,  hot,  399.     (See  Stars.) 


INDEX. 


463 


SistineChapel,  choir,  400.  (See  Music.) 

Sky,  beauty  of  the,  308-402.  (See 
Astronomy,  Sun.) 

Slavery:  American,  77;  selfish,  12G; 
ecclesiastical  support,  158;  peren- 
nial torture,  IGo;  traditions,  ICG; 
and  love  of  right,  197;  popular, 
225;  and  Bible,  327,  340;  not  shut- 
ting from  heaven,  304;  Channing's 
interest,  87G,  388-390,  393,  394. 

Slaves:  fugitive,  83,  210;  in  Boston 
(q.  v.),  101,  280;  forelcnown,  103; 
tears,  110;  cursed  in  Ciirist's  name, 
155;  report  to  heaven.  100;  ill- 
treated,  372.     i^eti  Negroes.) 

Slavic  Race,  providential,  101,  102. 

Sleep:  a  blessing,  399;  a  Moses,  400; 
vision,  401. 

Sobriety,  a  Christian  duty,  316. 

Society :  a  human  outgrowth,  2 ;  re- 
constructed, 172;  essential  to  heaven, 
350;  how  improved,  390. 

Socrates:  allusion,  32;  martyrdom, 
50;  freedom,  123;  learning  from 
nature,  184,  185;  arguments,  274, 
275;  ability,  281;  same  guide,  337. 
(See  Greece.) 

Soil,  filter  of  truth,  299. 

Solar  System :  illustrating  chance  and 
order,  65-08,  93;  foreordained,  105; 
oscillation,  137;  obedient,  139;  a 
sponge,  140;  permanent,  290.  (See 
Astrcnomy.  Sun.) 

Solidarity,  of  the  world  and  its  inhabi- 
tants, 427. 

Solomon:  Wisdom  of,  275,  343;  lilies, 
283  ;  Song  of,  300,  332,  406 ;  piety, 
319;  wine,  340;  and  Queen  of  Sheba, 
421. 

Sorrow:  nothing,  70;  not  everlasting, 
308.     (See  Joy.) 

Soul:  rooted  in  God,  4;  fleshly,  34; 
truths  taught,  40;  tide,  47;  a  new, 
48;  mediation  of,  52;  unseen,  73; 
compared  to  Noah's  dove,  80,  81 ; 
name  for  religious  faculties,  194; 
view  of  God,  198, 199;  in  place,  237; 
magnified,  244;  depths  stirred,  254; 
survives,  330,  337;  of  all,  344;  an 
entity,  350,  351 ;  claimed  by  many 
bodies,  354,  355  ;  weaUli  of,  363. 
(See  Spirit.) 

Soul's  Law,  kept,  45,  46. 

Sound:  illustration,  38,  39;  dependent 
on  air,  67. 

Southern  States,  justice  forgotten,  149. 
(Sec  Slareri/.) 

Sower,  parable  (q.  v.)  of  the,  431,  4-32. 

Space,  God  omnipresent  in,  238,  239. 

Spain:  tvrannv,  78;  Inquisition,  165; 
hills,  429;  waiting,  430. 


Sparta :  cruel  laws,  135 ;  civilization, 
430. 

Speculation,  Channing's  opinions, 
373. 

Spf'culative  Atheism  (q.  v.):  sermon, 
58-84;  influence  of  popular  theol- 
ogy, 58;  definition  of  atheism,  59, 
61 ;  all  denial  of  divinity  not  athe- 
istic, 59-61;  philosophical  atheism, 
61-63;  denial  in  terms  merely,  63, 
64;  names  for  deity,  04;  real  de- 
nial, 64;  I.  as  a  theory  of  matter, 
65-09;  II.  of  human"  life,  69-74; 
denial  of  virtue,  70,  71;  of  the  con- 
solation of  immortality,  71-73;  of 
providence,  73,  74,  8i;  III.  as  a 
tiieory  of  human  history,  74-84; 
misery  every  wliere,  75,  76;  tyranny, 
70-78;  intellectually  and  morally 
unsatisfactory,  78-84. 

Speculative  Tncism  (q.  v.):  sermon, 
8.5-111;  delinition.  85;  divine  quali- 
ties unknown  to  men,  85,  86 ;  God 
different  fi-om  the  universe,  80-89 ; 
denials,  87;  progressive  deity,  87, 
88:  God  must  be  perfect,  89,  90; 
philosophic  theism,  90 ;  perfect 
cause,  90-92;  perfect  rule  and  fore- 
knowledge in  nature,  92-97;  gen- 
eral relation  to  mankind,  97;  per- 
fect providence  for  men,  97-111; 
mai-gin  of  human  freedom,  99-101; 
concrete  application  to  life  in  gen- 
eral, 101-104:  to  individual  life, 
104-111;  in  suffering,  107,  108;  des- 
tiny, 108-110:  economy  of  nature, 
109,  110;  theism  entlironed,  110, 
111. 

Speech,  free  (c[.  v.),  340. 

Spinoza,  naming  God,  04.  (See  Pan- 
theism.) 

Spirit:  a  divine  name,  64;  different 
from  God,  80,  87;  theory  that  all  is, 
87;  not  exhausting  God,  88;  half 
the  universe,  90 ;  separate  from  body, 
194;  in  place,  237;  God,  242;  out  of 
man,  243.     (See  Pantheism,  Soul.) 

Spiritualism,  contrasted  with  natural- 
ism ((].  v.),  42-58. 

Spiritual  Senses,  and  immortalitj', 
350. 

Spiritual  Wants,  always  met,  42. 

Sponge,  an  illustration.  140. 

Spring:  sermon,  419-433;  mighty 
forces  at  work,  419;  town  and  river, 
419,  420;  a  factory,  420,  421;  cloth- 
ing of  (Jod's  creatures,  421;  revival 
of  nature,  422-424;  seasons,  424- 
426;  the  supposition  or  no  spring 
for  a  century,  420,  427;  delight  in 
beauty,  427-430;  age  of  the  world, 


464 


INDEX. 


430-432;  storv  about  Jesns'  bov- 
hood,  432,  433;  prayer,  434-438. 
(See  Seasons.) 

Stars:  as  pniviclential,  93;  growing 
larger,  3-20;  and  clover-seed,  251; 
new  beauty,  307;  evening,  3'J8; 
■worship,  3'J9;  costliest,  399;  morn- 
ing, 421  ;  when  best  seen,  425 ; 
spring,  427;  why  beautiful,  428. 
(See  Astronomy,  (jlreat  Btar,  Orion, 
&e.) 

State  House,  seen  by  a  fly,  283.  (See 
Boston.) 

State,  the:  attempt  to  establish  jus- 
tice, 147,  148 ;  an  educational  force, 
108;  sins  of,  173;  evil  of  tradition, 
213;  cunningness  in,  232;  against 
Jesus,  202;  din,  272.    (See  Nations.) 

Statutes,  amended  for  justice,  149. 
(See  Law.) 

Steam:  engine,  69;  human  use,  224. 

Stephen  tlie  Martyr,  218,  222. 

Stewart,  Dugald, 'ability,  394. 

Stomach,  inspiring  courage,  227. 

Stone:  in  divine  communion,  240-242; 
chipped,  244.  (See  Art,  Beauty, 
Nature.) 

Strasbuvg  Cathedral,  400. 

Strength,  sermon  on,  216-235.  (See 
Conscious. ) 

Strong  Man  (q.v.),  reason  for  courage, 
231,  232.     (See  Great  Minds.) 

Stuart  Dynasty,  151,  152. 

Suffering":  providential,  108;  a  bitter 
flower,  221;  unavoidable,  251;  and 
future  life,  3.58. 

Sun:  compared  with  a  good  man,  51; 
blind  instrument,  120;  a  surprise  to 
God,  127;  not  always  at  meridian, 
249;  heaven,  344;  only  a  fancy, 
346;  strong  attraction,  3G0:  no  fire 
lost,  422.  (See  Li(jht,  Solar  Sys- 
tem.) 

Sunbeam:  motes  in,  238;  Channinga, 
370. 

Sunda3':  dreary,  178;  laws,  208; 
vows,  254;  only  religion  of  many, 
280;  kidnapping,  286;  Bible  read, 
326;  worship  (q.  v.),  334;  prayers 
(q.  v.),  401 ;  at  the  homestead,  401- 
416. 

Sun  of  Righteousness,  254. 

Sunshine,  dail.y,  220. 

Supernaturalism,  36-41.  (See  Natu- 
ralism.) 

Superstition:  mistaken  for  religion, 
212;  phantoms,  336;  and  the  Bible, 
341. 

Synagogue:  Jesus  in,  258,  290;  the- 
'ologv,  264;  bliiul  man  cast  out,  268; 
Kab'bi  Jonah,  433. 


'PAILOE,  an  illustration  of  creation, 

-*-     65. 

Tartars,  providential,  101,  102,  111. 

Taylor,  Jeremy:  Avorks,  182;  help- 
ful word,  254;  same  guide,  337; 
severe  views,  378. 

Telemachus,  in  Kome,  172. 

Telescope,  revealing  life,  239.  (See 
Astronomy,  Stars.) 

Temperance :  keeping  the  bodj'  whole, 
144;  specialty,  173;  Channing's  ad- 
vocac}',  388.  (See  Jntemiierance, 
Reforms.) 

Temptation,  of  various  kinds,  188. 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  read  and  quoted, 
411.     (See  Poetry.) 

Teutonic  Eace,  providential,  101. 

Tliales:  eclipses,  66;  errors,  296. 
(See  Astronomy,  Sun.) 

Theatre,  the  universe  compared  to 
one,  122. 

Thebal,  name  for  universe,  64. 

Theism :  Paul's,  59 ;  speculative  (q.  v.), 
85-111.     (See  Atheism.) 

Theocritus,  poetry  of,  326. 

Theology:  defined  and  defended,  25; 
result  of  speculation,  25,  373 ;  seen 
in  institutions,  58;  not  the  whole  of 
religion,  172:  Palestinian,  263,  264; 
foundation  of,  308;  Channing's,  373, 
380;  reform  of,  382:  freedom,  383; 
old  questions  met,  384;  in  pravers, 
402. 

Theos,  a  divine  name,  64. 

Thieves :  often  religious,  165 ;  ideas 
of  right,  197. 

Tliimble,  an  illustration  of  the  human 
knowledge  of  divinity,  86. 

Tiiinking  Men,  inclined  to  naturalism, 
41. 

Thought:  not  fortuitous,  73;  diversi- 
ties, 317.     (See  Mind.) 

Tlirashing,  of  grain,  171,  179. 

Thunder,  from  Jesus,  286,  287. 

Thursday  Lecture,  286. 

Tlivestes,  banquet  of,  22. 

Tide  of  Soul,  47. 

Time,  subdivided  infinitely,  238,  239. 

Timidity,  Channing's,  374,  375.  (See 
Self-command.) 

Timotheus,  music  of,  401. 

Titian,  art  (q.  v.)  of,  411. 

Toad,  beauty  in  a,  367. 

Torture,  for  religion's  sake,  217-221. 
(See  Inqidsition,  Martyrs.) 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  105. 

Toys,  outgrown,  211. 

Transient  and  Permanent  in  Chris- 
tianity (q.  v.):  289-325;  confidence 
of  Jes'us,  289;  doubts  of  Christians, 
289;  subject,  289,  290;  eternity  of 


INDEX. 


465 


his  words,  290-292;  fixed  yet  vari- 
able, 2'J2,  2i)3;  the  word  of  Jesus, 
and  our  word  about  him,  293;  two 
eleuients  from  the  first,  294;  tran- 
sient preponderating  in  religious 
historv,  294;  rites  change,  295;  and 
doctrines,  295,  296;  principle  un- 
changing, 296  ;  scientific  illustra- 
tion, 21)6-298 ;  historic  changes, 
298-300;  doctrines  transitory,  300; 
legends  believed,  300-302  ;  estimate 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
300-304;  authority  and  nature  of 
Christ.  304-306,  these  varying  opni- 
ions  non-essential,  306,  307;  criti- 
cisms increasing,  307  ;  Christianity 
still  lives,  308,  309;  doctrines  and 
personalitv,  309,  310;  Jesus  seen  as 
he  is,  3li-313;  transitoriness,  313, 
314;  changes  not  ended,  314,  315; 
turning  from  disputes  to  plain  words, 
315,  316;  nothing  between  Jesus 
and  God,  317,  318;  Christianity  in 
the  heart  unchanged,  318  ;  new  life, 
318,  319 ;  sects  not  reaching  the 
heart  of  Christianity,  319,  320;  near 
and  distant  view,  "320,  321;  tran- 
sient passing,  321,  322;  mistaken 
defence,  322 ;  current  ideas  not  per- 
manent, 323  ;  peroration,  323-325. 

Trai;sub>tantiation:  More's  belief,  22; 
contest,  314.     (See  Sacrament.) 

Trasimenus,  the  waste  restored,  421. 

Travellers :  tales  of  undevout  tribes, 
15,  16  ;  annoyances,  a  comparison, 
382. 

Trees  :  beauty,  51 ;  weight,  405  ;  size, 
410,  411;  ill  spring,  424;  wedding- 
garments,  424;  in  winter,  425,  42'j. 
(See  Apple,  Elm,  Oak,  Pine,  &c.) 

Trials,  blessed,  255.  (See  Pain,  Suf- 
ferinfj.) 

Tribe,  idols  (q.  v.)  of  a,  371. 

Trinitv:  a  name,  59;  death  for  denial, 
60;  "inculcated,  169  ;  the  Achilles  of 
dogmas,  298 ;  disputes,  315.  (See 
God.) 

Trust,  of  Jesus,  277.     (See  Faith.) 

Truth:  in  Jesus'  (q- v.)  words,  34,  35; 
various  forms,  46;  less  loved  than 
justice,  146;  exclusive  forms  of.  147; 
loved  for  itself.  195,  190,  199',  200, 
210;  world  of,  255;  temple  and  rub- 
bish, 239;  diversitv,  317;  wrecked, 
320;  lasting,  .322,  340;  always  above, 
341;  never  flinches  before  reason, 
347;  loved  bj'  man,  350  ;  illustration 
of  rain  and  well,  381;  God's,  385; 
care  of  itself,  386. 

Truths:  popularly  taught,  108,  109; 
old  as  creation,  342. 


Tiilly,   on  Caesar  (q.  v.),  298.    (See 

Cicero.) 
Turkev,  benighted,  78. 
Tyrants,  short  breath  of,  232. 

TTLYSSES.  allusion  to,  150. 
^      Uncdusciousness,  of  piety,  201. 

Understanding:  revealing  tiuth,  46; 
part  of  mind,  194.     (See  Reasun.) 

Unitarians  :  belief  in  divine  oneness, 
169  ;  what  they  would  expect  of 
Jesus  to-day,  2*61  ;  Idea  of  Chris- 
tianity, 293  ;  views  of  Jesus,  306  ; 
disputes,  315  ;  all  not,  317  ;  views 
of  Bible,  329;  liberty,  383.  (See 
Liberal,  Trinity.) 

United  States  :  a  general  blessing 
craved,  125;  favoritism,  120;  love 
of  right,  197;  Channing's  influence, 
371,  380.  (See  America,  New 
En(jland.) 

Unitv:  divine  name,  59;  of  world, 
162.     (See  God,  Trinity.) 

Universality,  of  religious  ideas,  14-19. 

Universal,  the,  in  logic,  195,  197. 

Universe:  divine  qualities  so  named, 
64  ;  no  mind,  70;  different  from  God, 
86,  87;  two  parts,  90;  instructing 
God,  93,  94;  secure  in  God,  95;  un- 
failing purpose,  103  ;  a  scripture, 
107  ;  conduct  of,  112  ;  both  parts 
adapted  to  the  divine  purpose,  117; 
the  actor  and  tools,  120 ;  mechan- 
ism, 120,  121;  a  theatre,  120,  122; 
laws  and  parts,  129;  balance,  137; 
atomic,  1-39  ;  a  sponge,  140  ;  long 
moral  arc,  151;  forces  used  b}-  man, 
224;  godless,  240.  (See  Speculative, 
World.) 

Urns,  canonized,  314. 

Utility,  one  wing  of  matter,  109. 

YARIABILITY,    keeping    the    bal- 
ance, 137. 
Variation,  in  nature,  139. 
Vedas  :    inspired,    52 ;    human,    331. 

(See  Shasters.) 
Vegetables  :  mode  of  divine  life.  240 ; 

more  than  matter,  241.  (See  Trees.) 
Vegetation,  law  of,  139.   (See  Plants.) 
Venice,  church  in,  253. 
Venus,  called  a  demon,  GO. 
Vermont,  pastures  in,  40!i. 
Vestiges  of  Creation,  pantheistic  book, 

87. 
Vices,  and  future  (q.  v.)  life,  358. 
Virtue,  identical  in  God  and  man,  46, 

47. 
Virtues:  Christian,  316;    rewarded  in 

heaven,  308. 


30 


466 


INDEX. 


Vishnu,  and  Jesus,  281.    (See  Hindoo, 

India.) 
Vitality,  law  of,  139. 
Voice,  an  illustration,  84. 
Voltaire,  not  so  very  dangerous,  35. 


TI^AE,  Channing's  views,  376. 
'  '      Ware,  Henry :  consoling  words, 
182;  liberal  views,  old  age,  385. 

Washington,  George  :  his  heart-monu- 
ment, 154;  infiuence  compared  with 
Channing's,  372. 

Waste,  none  in  nature,  257. 

Watch,  work  on  one  part  of  a,  179, 180. 

Water  :  miracle  of  a  drop,  92 ;  of  life, 
180,  181;  force,  224.  (See  Mevri- 
mac,  River,  Sta.) 

Waterloo,  the  lield  of,  425. 

Watertown,  Mass.,  A-iew,  397. 

Watts,  Isaac,  gems,  182. 

Wealth,  privileged,  159. 

Weeds,  beauty  of,  413.  (See  Flowers, 
Plants.) 

Welltodo  Family,  a  countrv  trip,  401- 
416. 

Western  States:  wild  justice,  149; 
flour,  402. 

West  Indies,  emancipation  in,  394. 

Westminster  Catechism,  a  hindrance, 
183. 

Wheat,  and  truth,  171.  (See  Missis- 
sippi.) 

Whimsey,  God  considered  a,  61,  73. 

White,  Blanco,  sonnet  to  Niglit,  367. 

White  Sunday,  around  the  globe,  424. 

Whittier,  Jolin  Greenleaf,  tribute  to, 
182,  183. 

Widow's  Mite :  allusion,  282  ;  in  na- 
ture, 422.     (See  Parables.) 

Wife :  found  in  church,  218:  of  drunk- 
ard, 220,  222  ;  disappoiiited,  222  ; 
a  strength,  223.     (See  Marriruje.) 

Will:  a  factor  of  character  (q.  v.), 
164;  human  and  divine,  216. 

Wind,  composition  of,  403,  411.  (See 
Air.) 

Windows,  morning,  342. 

Winter:  description,  2-i8,  249;  hard, 
425.     (See  Seasons,  Spriny.) 


Wolf:  reform  compared  to,  172;  com- 
pared to  sin,  360. 

Woman,  elevation  of,  172.   (See  Wife.) 

Worcester,  Mass.,  385,  415. 

Word  of  God:  purity  questioned,  40; 
in  Jesus,  319;  lived,  323;  not  to  be 
contained  in  a  book,  336;  in  man, 
337;  in  conscience,  341.    (See  Bible.) 

Words  :  permanent,  290-292;  hre,  284; 
of  Jesus  (q.  v.)  and  ourselves,  293; 
lasting,  318. 

Wordsworth,  William  :  his  gems,  182; 
helpful  words,  254. 

Word,  the  :  access  to  us,  310  ;  before 
Abraham,  315;  duty  of  belief,  330. 

World  :  older  than  Bible  (q.  v.),  107; 
not  godless,  203;  God  ihe  condition 
of,  236;  "becoming,"  239;  end  of, 
believed  by  Jesus,  278;  dumb  with- 
out Christianity,  291;  literature  its 
confession,  359 ;  growing  more  won- 
drous, 367;  age,  421  ;  man  a,  428; 
old  and  young,  430.  (See  Universe.) 

Worm:  turning,  160;  fed,  429. 

Worship  :  its  phenomena,  4,  5 ;  bloody 
rites  (q.  v.),  23 ;  often  wasted,  33,  34; 
placed  before  conscience,  138  ;  pop- 
ularly enjoined,  168;  of  man  or 
God,' 277;  best  part  of  service,  334; 
for  God  alone,  342.  (See  Ceremonies, 
Prayer.) 

Wren,  order  and  freedom,  99.  (See 
Birds.) 


"V  ENOPHON,  works  of,  328. 


■yOUTH:  its  hopes  and  lessons,  192, 

^     193 ;  daily  martyrdom,  220 ;  sure 

to  suffer,  234;  o"f  Jesus,  274. 


VALEUCUS,  inspiration  of,  52. 
^     Zeal,  for  money  and  religion,  190. 
Zeus,  lower  than  Jesus,  277,  278. 
Zion,  streets  of,  271. 
Zoroaster:  inspiration,  52;  a  blessing, 
430.    (See  Persia.) 


University  Press  :  Johu  Wilson  &  Son,  Cambridge. 


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